Inventaa finds Tekla the Perfect Solution for All Precast Projects
18,810 Precast Elements - One Herculean Project
The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) awarded Inventaa with the construction of a large-scale residential project comprising of 33 Blocks of 5-storey apartment units in the city of Bhubaneswar in Odisha. All 33 blocks were walk-up units considering the low height of 17.50 metres for the buildings. A typical floor houses 8 residential units with an 8-to-a-core arrangement.
The structural system for the project was the precast wall-frame system which comprised of precast reinforced solid concrete structural walls, room-size slab solution, beams and staircases. Besides precast, reinforced pergolas were provided at the terrace level as a unique architectural feature of the building and the foundation arrangement was of strip footings for all structural precast walls. While the footings were a cast-in-situ system, the walls were made of prefabricated elements for the more controlled, site-based execution requirements. The structural material consumption of a single building/apartment unit, including the foundation, SOG and complete superstructure was, 726 cubic metres of concrete and 75 metric tons of reinforcement. Multiply that with 33 blocks and we begin to realise the sheer size of this massive project that came with many more additional challenges.
Massive Project, Tiny Worksite Spaces, and Unique Design Challenges
The super compact land space designated for the construction of this mass housing project was perhaps the biggest challenge. The tight block layouts at various parts, and the narrow approach for elements and crane positioning added to the already restricted site-space challenge.
The size of the project and the vast volume of construction involved, increased the possibility of conflicts or clashes on-site and the resultant rework was ever-present and at its peak. On the other hand, the project schedule hardly had any scope for errors and reworking, which could push the team to miss the pre-decided project delivery deadline and adversely affect the budget and hence the profitability of the project.
Further, the sunken slabs required for all the toilets had added a plethora of challenges for all teams involved in the project. These sunken slabs involved floor diaphragm action and integrity connections of the precast element from the engineering aspect and complex precast elements for intermediate attachments, and 3D slabs requirement from the production aspect.
Tekla: The Solution Provider for all Challenges from Design to Execution
For Inventaa, Tekla was the definitive choice to successfully deliver this project that came with a multitude of challenges. Tekla enabled the stakeholders to control the project in a centralized manner right from efficient design to planning, monitoring and improving upon the execution of the project on-site. The efficiency achieved by using Tekla helped the team to deliver 10% extra area per unit as a result of the improved designing right at the beginning.
Recalling the experience, Satyanarayana C, Managing Director, Inventaa Industries said, “At Inventaa, we always look to digitize the entire construction process to the maximum possible extent. The project in discussion here was completely handled in-house including the development of the architectural concept, structural engineering/design, production of the precast elements, installation of precast elements with all the requisite structural work at the site, and finally the installation of services (MEP) and architectural finishing. Tekla held our hand through all of these phases which would have otherwise been very difficult to manage by using a dozen different applications.”
Why Inventaa recommends Tekla for Precast Projects
Multitude of Benefits from the Accurate 3D Design Model Generation
Project Scheduling & Monitoring at One Place
All production activities and site execution processes were being monitored on the schedule generated on Tekla, and it was actively plugged into the BIM workflow, giving a clear picture of the project to all the teams and the management involved. By enabling the stakeholders to schedule the complete project timeline elaborately, Tekla helped in time-bound project completion and saving a significant number of work hours. The ease of project scheduling and controlling also enhanced the on-site work-efficiency. For example, erection sequencing, which would typically take 4 days for a typical tower, took less than a day to complete.
Seamless and Real-time Cloud-Based Collaboration
Apart from the vast size and volume of the construction, the project also involved a large number of stakeholders and various teams specializing in different aspects of the project. Unobstructed and truly real-time collaboration was the most critical requirement to avoid errors, clashes and ultimately rework. Higher number of errors and reworks could not only derail the on-time project delivery but would have also hampered the profitability of the project. However, Tekla facilitated a smooth, real-time and multimodal collaboration among the different stakeholders, which significantly curtailed the number of RFIs.
Optimization of Design, Rationalization of Manpower & Associated Costs
With Tekla, the entire 3D model was generated by one person, who could further efficiently extract all production and execution drawings out of the same 3D model, which otherwise requires 2-3 people, or at times even more, had they been working on any 2D drafting process. Working with Tekla in 3D helped in controlling and optimizing the entire design process efficiently to ensure that all clashes were identified and rectified in the office itself instead of on-site and the most suitable design options were evaluated and fixed upon easily.
Tekla: Delivering Any Project, Any Challenge
The ease of project specific customizations offered by Tekla software makes it a boon for the construction industry, which is witnessing rapid diversification. Apart from the flexibility, Tekla provides a complete solution for all kinds of projects – simple or complex, small or large-scale – which makes it the best in the business. Tekla software is the most efficient and effective solution for the precast concrete construction industry.
Says Sumedh Gupta, General Manager, Inventaa Industries, “Tekla’s BIM solution was and is the best fit for all our requirements throughout the complete life cycle of the project, from the design to procurement, production, execution and finally monitoring phases of the project. We have also had the flexibility to fine-tune and customize Tekla to fit perfectly within our processes and standards and in fact, improve upon them by leaps and bounds. This flexibility of the software allows organizations to easily adopt Tekla either partially or fully based on their existing processes and workflows. It is an extremely efficient solution for all types of precast projects, and we are happy to strongly recommend Tekla to our precast industry.”
Inventaa: An Innovative, Reliable Producer
Inventaa Industries, which was set up in the year 1979 for bulk manufacturing of drugs, subsequently diversified into ‘building material’ products. They have set up 4 precast plants in India with a vision to be the most innovative, sustainable, reliable producer, manufacturer, service & solution provider in the chosen verticals. Their largest integrated production facility is located in Keesara, Andhra Pradesh; it produces Precast Concrete Elements, AAC Blocks, and Interlocking Pavers.
Besides producing precast elements, Inventaa has been successfully delivering turnkey building construction projects for a wide variety of segments such as residential, commercial, industrial, hospitals, hotels and any other such buildings. The company also supplies precast structural and non-structural elements, AAC Blocks and Interlocking Paver blocks to other large construction projects.
NBM&CW October 2020
