BIM

A BIM driven solution for complicated underground utilities

Hip Hing is the design and build contractor for Government’s new Transport Department Vehicle Examination Complex (TDVEC). One of the project’s major challenges has been the design and coordination of 750 manholes and draw pits and a network of 3,000+ pipes, with a total length of 17km.

These new installations had to be coordinated with the existing underground utilities, the footings of adjacent elevated highways and new gantry footings to be constructed as part of the project.

This complex arrangement was initially built and integrated virtually in the BIM environment. Drawing on our engineering and BIM technology expertise, our project team was able to visualize the installations, detect clashes and resolve potential conflicts between the new and existing utility services and structures. This helped enhance design certainty and accuracy, provide valuable insight for planning the efficient construction of the works and mitigating the risk of abortive works. In addition, it helps avoid disruption to the existing live utility systems and take account of the future maintenance requirements of the operator.

Unlocking DfMA power with BIM

Xiqu Centre, a world-class arts venue dedicated to promoting the rich heritage of Xiqu, has a striking design from inside out. The exterior walls feature 10,000+ fins supported by more than 24,000 brackets, with many different orientations between the back support panels and the fins.

With the adoption of digital BIM design and computation technologies, the 24,000 brackets were categorised into 140 types, bringing design versus manufacture cost to the optimal level. For the on-site installation, the bracket setup and positioning was pre-aligned in the factory, achieving accuracy of +/- 0.1mm. This eliminated orientation adjustment work at height, the on-site installation time was significantly reduced, while efficiency and safety were enhanced.

BIM also successfully tackled the challenges of the curved ceiling design, which consists of different freeform ceiling panels. Taking advantage of digital design tools such as curvature analysis, different types of ceiling panels were categorised early in the fabrication stage, ensuring the right fabrication method was precisely conducted, workmanship thus improved and costs were accurately estimated.

The efficient delivery of Xiqu Centre project realises the philosophy and real benefits of Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) on both exterior façade and main entrance interior works.