When there’s no single source of truth on design and build projects, it leads to confusion, delays, rework and cost overruns. For the international teams at Tétris, it’s invaluable to be able to work together efficiently in one common data environment thanks to Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Tétris specialises in turnkey solutions for corporate clients, managing the design and build of inspiring, functional, and sustainable offices, retail and hospitality spaces. Founded in France in 2003, the company was acquired by JLL Group in 2007.
It now has offices in 33 cities across 13 countries. Its 820-strong team includes project managers, architects, interior designers, and construction managers, supported by procurement, health and safety, and administrative teams.
As a market leader in the design and build space, Tétris recognised the benefits the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) could bring to their business operations to enable them to continue to be commercially appealing and provide a better client experience.
Underpinned by technical excellence and collaborative working methods, BIM supports the team at Tétris to connect their people to their data and streamline their workflows through an established Common Data Environment (CDE).
As its multiple internal teams often collaborate on complex international projects for global brands, working together with clients, contractors and subcontractors, efficiency and clarity are vital.
That proved challenging in the past; however, as many processes were manual and siloed, different country teams were using other tools, and the company had no standardised way of capturing and sharing data.
“Before we used Autodesk Construction Cloud’s BIM 360, it was a nightmare,” says Andrea Reina Rojas, BIM Manager for Construction at Tétris . “We used email and other tools for drawings, RFIs, approvals and other issues. It was a really manual process, where we were downloading documents, making notes manually, re-uploading them and then sending them for approval.”
On site, things were just as challenging, with people making their own notes on paper and referring to out-of-date schedules of work or drawings.
It was a similar story for design teams, recalls Rachel Andrews, BIM Manager for Design at Tétris. “We had designers attending site meetings just in case there was a query. With Autodesk Construction Cloud, issues can be pinged directly to a designer during the meeting and be resolved there and then.”
Not only that, she adds, but designers doing snag reports would spend hours manually linking the huge number of photos they had taken to specific places on drawings so project managers could act on them.
It was clear Tétris needed to digitalise its design and build process to create efficiencies through standardisation across its EMEA teams. The implementation of Autodesk Construction Cloud’s BIM 360 solution began with the design teams and was then rolled out to the construction side of its business around five years ago.
But in March 2021, Autodesk Construction Cloud released Autodesk Build, which includes additional new functionality to create a comprehensive site and project management solution. Realising the value Autodesk Build offers, Tétris began transitioning this solution to all their teams in EMEA.
Nowadays, it’s far more accessible for the Tétris teams to visualise and share information. Now everyone can access a single up-to-date schedule of works or drawing, with none of the confusion that used to arise.
While the teams found Autodesk Construction Cloud intuitive, change can be challenging for any organisation. Tétris focuses on managing this through creating standards and ensuring everyone has opportunities to learn, both on the job and through Autodesk Construction Cloud training, including short lessons for individual workflows.
“There can be challenges when people have to get used to an entirely new application,” says Rachel. “While there is a learning process when the lightbulb goes on, and they realise how it helps them, they adopt it straight away. The joy with this solution is when someone says to you after a month or two, ‘Oh, I love this; it’s amazing’. It’s a huge win.”
Training is a continual process, she adds. As the technology evolves, so does the team and how it uses the tools daily.
For Tétris, its core focus is on producing effective work efficiently for clients. “From the design perspective, working easily across geographies and being able to have client-based teams rather than country-based teams is one of the biggest benefits. Projects can be so much more efficient for clients.”
On the construction side, efficiency is also the most striking benefit of the digital transformation journey. Anyone who needs to find or share information can do so right away with the single source of truth offered by Autodesk Construction Cloud, rather than having to track down stakeholders or check multiple tools or documents. This saves time and avoids confusion.
“When it comes to RFIs, purchase orders, change orders and scheduling, being able to link all these different activities done by different stakeholders within the project is a huge upgrade for us,” says Andrea.
“There are so many examples of how this is improving our workflows, from health and safety forms to managing delays to approvals. Being able to connect the right knowledge to where it’s needed has been invaluable.”
Not only are approvals now quicker for site-based teams to get, but the company also has a more secure way of sharing documents with its clients. And using Autodesk Build, the team can build checklists into drawings, for example, before they’re shared with others. Limiting permissions using the permissions feature means quality is maintained and information protected.
“When it came to snagging, it could take three hours, and sometimes up to three days if there were technical issues, for on-site photos to be shared with those who needed them, as so much manual work was required to download, label and upload them. Using the photos feature on Autodesk Build’s mobile app, this task is done in five minutes,” – Andrea Reina Rojas, BIM Manager for Construction, Tétris
Across the board, Tétris benefits from improved visibility of project health and how teams perform. Previously, it was challenging if not impossible to access the same breadth of data.
According to Benoit Valla, Digital Director at Tétris, the issues workflow in Autodesk Build is especially powerful. “Issues tracking generates a lot of data such as pictures and comments, but Autodesk Build captures meaningful data and gives us better visibility of issues and improved traceability.
“This is a risky industry and we can’t always avoid disputes on projects,” he adds. “It’s invaluable to have this traceability as part of the workflow, especially as it’s already created for you and does not require any additional effort.
Beyond traceability, having a shared central data repository also helps to improve communication with clients around issues. “Before, no one person had all this information saved anywhere,” explains Andrea. “This tool gives you the confidence to say, ‘I know where this data is so we can resolve the issue.”
At present, Tétris is testing the cost features and functionality in Autodesk Build as it defines its workflow for cost management. “When it comes to managing change orders and the progress of the financials, it’s a really powerful tool,” says Andrea.
Given the benefits Tétris is already seeing across their design and build portfolio, it’s no surprise the team is working towards full adoption and integration of BIM methodology throughout its business by 2025.
And powered by technology like Autodesk Build, the team can continue to explore more of the functionality available and share best practices to build a construction industry fit for the future.
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