Building on Success

at the University of East London

Chris Ward reflects on how new technology has altered a work of tedium into a labour of love.

The autumn breeze had began to change into that all too familiar winter chill when an order for building measured surveys landed on my desk.

The brief was simple, measure and produce CAD plans for two buildings. One, Arthur Edwards House is of relatively modern construction and approximately 4800m2. The second, a building referred to as University House is a ‘mish mash’ of Victorian buildings joined together to form a whole of approximately 12500m2.

Included in the brief was the need to survey the usual doors, walls etc, but the University also required elevations and sections. In addition, room areas needed to be linked to their preferred estate database system (Our staff enjoy learning new packages). While planning the time and staffing requirements to undertake this mammoth task my mind drifted back to the previous autumn – before we were using the SiteMaster Building software produced by GraebertUK and the Hilti PD 38 Laser Range Meter. Armed with a pencil, some crisp A3 graph paper and a 5m tape measure the surveyors would be sent off to start the survey. After the surveyor had finished on site he would return to our office in Northampton. The accumulated work in the form of the now crumpled paper covered with the scribblings and measurements would be handed over to one of our CAD operators. Once the rough drawings were handed over, the surveyor would be back off to continue with the next survey.

The CAD operator would then (much like Robert Langdon, of the DaVinci Code) have to decipher what had been left with him. A full week could pass before the surveyor would return to the office, so any queries would have to wait till then. If elevations or sections were required, these would be treated as a separate survey and drawing task.

But of course things have changed.

The advent of SiteMaster Building has changed the course of measured surveys forever. The paper is gone. The tape measure is obsolete. Both finally replaced with technology of the 21st century. SiteMaster Building software produced by GraebertUK is an AutoCAD compatible software package designed specially for use on hand-held PC type devices (PDA). It fully supports the AutoCAD layering system and has a multitude of features specifically designed as an aid to surveying. The Hilti PD 38 Laser Range Meter is a light, compact laser device capable of measuring distances as small as 50mm). These two pieces of equipment talk to each other using the wonder of Bluetooth and using them together, completed plans can be produced on site.

There is no longer any need for office based drawing up time. The surveyor is able to draw doors, windows, walls and correctly layer them as the survey is carried out. He is able to utilise attributes within the drawing for collecting data such as room descriptions, ceiling heights, and window heights. Another advantage is that all the information required for 3D can be collected at the same time. This leaves our CAD operators with a lot less to do – only adding drawing borders etc. Files can be sent directly to the office from site via e-mail as soon as they are finished and checked. If elevations or sections are required, the CAD operator can begin them immediately with the added luxury that any queries can be checked and resolved while the surveyor is still on site. Surveying using SiteMaster Building is a self checking process that quickly highlights potential errors on a room by room basis as the survey progresses.

The equipment is so easy to use that new staff can be trained within a few days. The Tridraw function is especially useful. It is now possible for the software to automatically compute the ‘loci’ for angled walls making this a simple and easy task. Never before has it been so easy to survey and draw the awkward angles and shapes that are so common in Victorian architecture.

The survey teams are delighted with their new toys and management are delighted with the results.

In fact the company is so impressed with the software they have committed the resources necessary to develop a dynamic link between the 3iStudio EstateManager software and GraebertUK SiteMaster Building – providing our clients with a fully mobile FM/CAD solution.

The automated data links makes such things as occupancy audits easier than ever.

Conclusion

Thanks to GraebertUK 3i Surveys have the technology which has made CAD plans more accurate and easy to produce than ever before. Technology which we are keen to make available to you!

The Next Step

Contact 3i Surveys for a ‘live’ demonstration of this breakthrough technology TODAY!