The Skanska DigiHub constantly evaluates new digital capabilities as part of the digital transformation journey in relation to Skanska products and production. In partnership with BIMvirtual, Skanska DigiHub recently evaluated OpenSpace’s reality capture platform in the context of a pilot project in Stockholm, Sweden. OpenSpace was selected due to an easy-to-use reality capture process and the ability to seamlessly share construction progress in combination with BIM.
The challenge
The DigiHub team was interested in solutions that would dramatically improve the quality of photo documentation and make it structured and actionable for project tracking. Under the status quo, supervisors on projects sporadically took pictures manually with their phones or tablet devices, which resulted in a jumble of imagery that was rarely organized and nearly impossible to refer back to. The process of gathering pictures from different sources and structuring them according to client needs was cumbersome.
The solution
In the evaluation process, a key differentiator for OpenSpace was ease of use. All that’s required to capture a jobsite is strapping a 360 camera to a hard hat and walking the site; OpenSpace automatically captures imagery and pins it to project plans in the background.
“My team got the hang of it in five minutes, which made it a very straightforward decision to go with OpenSpace,” said Eric Jacobson, a Digital Development Manager at Skanska DigiHub.
Skanska piloted OpenSpace on a 300,000-square-foot hotel project in Stockholm and realized time savings across several workflows. For example, weekly meetings with owner representatives and architects became much more efficient, since the Skanska team could quickly pull up relevant imagery without needing to send someone out to the site to investigate potential issues. The project team also evaluated the OpenSpace’s BIM Viewer feature, which enables a side-by-side view of current conditions with the model.
My team got the hang of it in five minutes, which made it a very straightforward decision to go with OpenSpace.
The results
Overall, progress tracking was simplified and improved.
More complete
Faster
Skanska identified a number of areas where the OpenSpace platform delivered value during the evaluation period.
More robust documentation, captured faster
OpenSpace is faster than manual photo capture, and the resulting documentation is more thorough.
Time savings in construction workflows
The single source of truth provided by robust 360 photo documentation makes it easier for supervisors
to follow day-to-day progress on a large site. OpenSpace lets them report on progress with much greater precision at weekly meetings, which saves time and keeps cross-functional stakeholders in closer alignment. OpenSpace also makes scheduling and quality control processes more efficient, since team members can pull up relevant imagery in a few clicks instead of having to investigate areas of the site in-person.
Savings on rework
By providing a detailed record of the site that’s accessible to any team member, OpenSpace helps Skanska surface potential issues at
an earlier stage when they’re easier—and cheaper— to address. For example, a leak can be detected before drywall or flooring is put up over the source.
Additional value for owners
OpenSpace provides a digital record for the entire lifecycle of a building, which can be handed over to owners at the end of a project. It enables owners to give virtual tours to prospective tenants, provides facilities managers with a complete history of the plumbing and HVAC systems and more. “What’s unique about OpenSpace is that it helps developers and owners equally,” said Annika Johansson of BIMvirtual, which is now a reseller and partner of OpenSpace in the Nordics.
