While working on a complex joint venture, civil builder Mobilis needed to find ways to streamline processes, boost collaboration and maximise efficiency. Autodesk Construction Cloud had the solution.
Mobilis, a part of TBI Group, works on both large and small infrastructure projects, with a focus on civil engineering. The result of their work can be seen in roads, tunnels, bridges, locks, quay walls, parking garages, water purification plants, foundations, buildings and transformer stations in the energy market throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. With sustainability at its core, Mobilis has been constructing infrastructure throughout the Netherlands for more than 100 years.
In 2021, working alongside partner engineering firms Van Gelder and Boskalis, Mobilis won the contract to construct Amsterdam South Public Transport Terminal in Amsterdam Central Station.
Built in 1889 by Dutch architect Pierre Cuypers, Amsterdam Central Station is the city’s largest rail station. After Utrecht Central Station, it’s also the busiest train station in the Netherlands, with around 186,000 people passing through its door daily.
The national transportation hub needed to expand and evolve to deal with growing traveller numbers. Jan Moskal, BIM manager at Mobilis walks us through why Autodesk Construction Cloud has been pivotal to the joint venture’s success.
“The old station was outdated and not able to handle the passenger flow,” explains Jan. “The project is mainly an expansion of the station, but it will also be made more architecturally appealing.”
Since work began in 2022, the station has remained operational. Located in the bustling business district with a constant flow of people and traffic, Jan and the team had to carry out vital work while keeping disruption to a minimum.
“We have to construct a whole new station while the station is operational. That’s the biggest challenge,” explains Jan. “There's always a lot of work to do, and in a very short period of time, because the trains have to transport people back and forth on a Monday morning so we only have, for example, one weekend to do a lot of work.”
With multiple moving parts and even more stakeholders, Jan and the team needed a solution to streamline ways of working on this demanding project. Autodesk Construction Cloud, with its ability to connect workflows, teams and data at every stage of the project, was an obvious choice.
Ensuring the right people had access to the right information was critical. Jan and the team set up a folder structure in their Autodesk Docs solution, part of the Autodesk Construction Cloud, to avoid confusion and streamline the process for the multiple teams involved.
Mobilis put a four-folder structure in place to help all stakeholders seamlessly navigate the design process:
“In Autodesk Docs we have a folder structure that defines access to the design work in progress, where the information can’t be shared straight away” Jan explains.
From the beginning, the folder structure has helped all teams find the right data, at the right time, and allowed them to control access for smoother collaboration.
There’s no room for error on multifaceted projects like this, so Autodesk Docs cloud-based document management and common data environment (CDE) helped the team save time and minimise errors along the way.
Having all designs and data stored in a central CDE also gave everyone a clear view of the scale and scope of project activities before the building began.
“All information shared from the design team has to be checked and validated,” says Jan. “Then it can be used by another discipline. So you don't get all kinds of confusion. If you do not have control over this, it's such a complicated project, it will definitely go wrong.”
Autodesk Build, part of the Autodesk Construction Cloud, has been an especially useful tool for Jan and the team on site, helping them streamline review and approval processes and ensuring everyone is aligned. The transmittals feature in Autodesk Build also allowed them to share, trace, and manage construction files throughout the project.
Using Autodesk Construction Cloud means everyone on the project has peace of mind knowing they could securely share designs with each other and the client, while the team can connect and collaborate on designs directly from Autodesk Navisworks to identify clashes or bottlenecks, saving time on site and in rework.
While adopting Autodesk from design and construction has transformed processes internally throughout the project, it’s also boosted collaboration and streamlined ways of working with external stakeholders.
“We ask all our subcontractors to share information through our Autodesk Docs,” Jan explains. “Depending on the design scope, they also have the opportunity to work in our Autodesk Construction Cloud environment.”
Jan and the team also use Autodesk Construction Cloud to keep the client updated with the latest drawings. All designs and data shared have to conform to ISO 19650, an international standard for end-to-end information management over the lifecycle of a built asset, to ensure they securely reach the client every time.
Good communication and a meticulous review process are crucial on a project this size. The team needed a system that could cope with high volumes of data and the fast-paced nature of the job.
Moreover, with multiple people – from site engineers to surveyors – reviewing documents at any given time, having a single source of truth would boost efficiency and reduce errors.
“We use Autodesk Docs for reviewing all our drawings,” explains Jan. “ The main benefit is that all information is in one single accessible source, and not divided into various places. Wherever you are, you can always access the information.”
There are now clear review and approval steps in place where all issues, remarks and approvals are traceable and stored in one, accessible location. And with over 13,000 issues raised to date, having a consistent, trackable approach was imperative. In fact, the team create close to 600 issues monthly and have reduced the number of days issues are open for from 150 days to 15 days on average – decreasing the average issues open rates by 90% on the project.
“Reviewing in Autodesk Docs is also a great benefit,” says Jan. “The whole review process is trackable. So with all the issues and remarks, they also have to be closed if they are processed, but still it's all traceable, in one location and the whole history is available.”
Moreover, since moving to Autodesk Docs, the team can now track how long a review is open, boosting efficiency and saving time. With 70 approval reviews completed on average per month, the team have completed nearly 2,000 reviews to date using Autodesk Docs.
“We also use automated workflows in Autodesk Docs to notify and assign review tasks to team members. These workflows help us keep track of the review process,” reflects Jan.
“That gives you extra control,” adds Jan. “So you can send a reminder to someone that a review of a drawing has already taken two or three weeks and some action has to be taken. “Compare that to the old-fashioned way of making remarks on a PDF and then sending it by email. Things get easily lost in all the emails you receive, so working in Autodesk Docs makes this process much more efficient.”
