Topcon Positioning Systems, a world leader in positioning instruments for survey and construction, and Bentley Systems, a global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, are working together to provide opportunities for construction industry professionals to learn best practices in constructioneering - a process of managing and integrating survey, engineering and construction data, in order to streamline construction workflows and improve project delivery. This collaboration was recently announced during Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure Conference in Singapore from 10 to 12 October 2017.
“The future of construction automation continues to move forward today with efforts like constructioneering. Together with Bentley we are helping reshape the traditional surveying, engineering and construction workflows,” said Ray O’Connor, president and CEO of Topcon Positioning Systems. “Our efforts are proving successful in several phases of project delivery, particularly in road resurfacing, but the opportunities to expand its benefits are tremendous. That’s a big driver for creating the Constructioneering Academy.”
Greg Bentley, CEO of Bentley Systems, added, “The growing momentum in demand for infrastructure project delivery across the world, against finite resources including an ageing construction workforce, makes ‘going digital’ imperative. We and Topcon, and early adopters of constructioneering over the past year, have become convinced that heavy civil construction can lead the way, starting by ‘industrialising BIM’ through digital workflows which make the work of surveyors, engineers and constructors automated, continuous and continuously more valuable, throughout the project lifecycle.
“Also over the past year, we and Topcon have advanced our digital co-venture to jointly deliver constructioneering technologies through instant-on cloud services, federating our respective connected data environments and applications.”
Constructioneering enables engineers to begin work with an accurate 3D model of current construction site conditions (as captured by Topcon’s UAS photogrammetry and laser scanners) which then can be processed into engineering-ready 3D reality meshes (by Bentley’s ContextCapture software). Cloud services convey the engineers’ work directly to construction processes in the field. The resulting digital engineering models work with the 3D machine control that guides construction machinery.
Compared to traditional workflows between design and construction in which data in the digital engineering models is often lost and inefficiently recreated, constructioneering provides seamless integration for constructible models that offer real-time updates and data exchange for improved efficiency and cost reduction. Topcon and Bentley said they will collaborate to create the Constructioneering Academy curriculum, which will be implemented through existing learning centres located in Livermore, California (Topcon), Houston, Texas, and London, UK (Bentley).
According to Bentley, new Academy locations are also expected to open in the coming months in Pune, India; Dubai, UAE; and Beijing, China.
“The benefits of constructioneering, with digital visibility into efficient and effective project outcomes, are so substantial that I believe civil infrastructure projects can finally become bankable, attracting abundant private financing to fill the funding gap. The results can be significant - improved overall economic growth and quality of life!” said Mr Bentley.
