4. Application of VR in the Construction Industry
4.5. VR as a competitive advantage in the construction bidding
The construction industry is a competitive field. The individuality of construction projects makes it more complex; each project has different participants, assignments, and relationships. The construction company always has to optimize its tools, show technical competence in the market to gain more contracts. The utilization of VR can give this competitive advantage to the construction company even for the first time to use the technology in-house.
4.5.1. The Spectrum/Vertex project in San Diego US (How to use VR as a market-ing tool for contract awardmarket-ing) cases study
This case study was performed to figure out the goals, advantages, and disadvantages for applying VR in construction related to BNBuilders Spectrum/Vertex project. The study aims to use the VR as an innovative tool to identify design flow, reduce rework, save time and cost. The data for this case study was collected from interviews by phone calls from the project staff, the occupant of the building (Vertex Pharmaceuticals), and the architect on the project. The outcomes of the study were that the company was able to limit changes work, reduce time and cost.
4.5.1.1. The stakeholders and project profile Table 6: Spectrum/Vertex project stakeholders
The owner The user (occupant) The architect The contractor
Alexandria Real Estate
• Location: San Diego, California, United States
• Type: Tenant Improvement
• Contract cost: $ 110 million
• Area: 170000 square feet
• Description: The project contains specialized laboratories for chemical and biological research, a vivarium, an open area for offices, a data center, and a multistory compound management area.
• Construction: 290,000 SF steel/unitized glass curtain wall structure
• Certification: Certified LEED Gold.
• Expertise: Sustainability, Virtual Design & Construction, and Safety
• Hand over date: Spring 2018
The objectives of the case study
• Identify the result of the project with the application of VR
• Reveal the advantages of using VR in construction
• Dealing with the problems of VR in construction
• Recommendations for future work
Figure 41: Spectrum/Vertex project (bnbuilders, 2019).
4.5.1.2. Methodology
The fundamental part of this study research is the opinions of the industry experts and project stakeholders. Exploratory data analysis was used because of the limited knowledge of the topic. The construction company (BNBuilders) is going to perform an analytical study for the usage of VR in their Spectrum/Vertex project and show how it helps to deliver the project. The method to collect data for this topic was personal interviews.
The interviewees
Table 5: Spectrum/Vertex project stakeholders (Haggard, 2017)
Interviewee Position Organization
Meredith Stumpo Senior Estimator and LEED AP
BNBuilders
Evan Horn Senior Project Engineer BNBuilders
Michael Dulberg BIM/Innovation BNBuilders
Jim Larsen Vice President Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Danny Campbell Architect and LEED BD+C DGA
The general contractor of the project used VR technology for the first time. The main reason to utilize new technology was to award the contract for both the core and the shell. In this condition, the priority was the collaboration between the two parts of the project, which enables them to avoid clashes. (by builders, 2018)
4.5.1.3. General contractor goals for using VR in Spectrum/Vertex project.
• Innovation and development: using the VR technology to enhance the corporate values and as a managerial and marketing tool to gain more contracts.
• Limitation of rework and changes: the project staff can check and analyze the project from different perspectives and use the virtual model as a reference model for the site work.
• Collaboration and communication: provide a multiuser platform for the collaboration between client, architect, and contractor. Not many owners are professionals with BIM to know what their project in the final shape will be. The virtual model will help to coordinate subcontractor work and overcome obstacles.
• Save time and cost: By using the virtual model to the project, the contractor will be able to save the client money on rendering and mockups. The virtual model also helps with a better schedule and cost estimate.
4.5.1.4. Challenges of VR in the Spectrum/Vertex project.
Although VR is still in its infancy, not all the advantages of VR in AEC and facility management was completely established. However, the gains on the project are cost reduction, detect design defects, and provide the model for facility management purposes. VR still has hurdles to be in common use in the construction industry. In the current time, only a few architects and engineers understand how to build and deal with the virtual reality models. The main challenge was the lack of streamline software.
To build a virtual working model, the user needs to decompose the BIM files into different file formats to use it in a VR software such as “Unreal Engine.” When the needless faces are trimmed, this makes for smaller file size and provide a better experience for the user in the virtual environment with the HMD. Dulberg (BNBuilders) said that, after the architect provided the Revit model, the cycle of file trimming takes
about 120 hours for completion. Since the study is undertaken before contract awarding, it acts as a financial risk to continue this extensive process. There is a huge necessity for software that can provide real-time editing to reflect on BIM and VR models. VR will be more cost-effective.
From the architect's perspective, VR reduces costs by limiting rework and changes in design. According to Danny Campbell (DGA), VR has proven to be a double-edged sword. In Spectrum/ Vertex project, delivering the VR model to the client and end-users opens the design process to the scrutiny level. Proper scheduling is considered the main factor in the success of the construction project; having several diverse design options makes it challenging to stay within the schedule. The architect's priority is to gain client satisfaction and, at the same time, minimize the adjustments in design to the minimum extent to stay in the schedule.
4.5.1.5. Discussion and outcomes
The construction is a competitive and dynamic industry due to the addition of advanced technology. In the middle of that, VR is going to reshape the industry. While VR is still in its infancy, it has the potential to integrate exponentially in terms of project time, cost, and quality. BNBuilders used VR technology for the first time in its business has already proven the evidence to be a contract awarding tool, save time and money, and improve communication and collaboration in the project. The availability of real-time software will help the company to gain more profit and time savings. Now a considerable amount of money is spent to update the model after design changes.