Belcanto: Collaboration and Innovation

Combining decades of experience with future-focused innovation, Belcanto Group designs, manufactures, and installs commercial balustrading, modular balcony and façade systems for multi-unit developments in healthcare, social housing and private development projects. The company was formed in 2019 and has offices in Auckland and Wellington.

Business development manager Patrick Kendrick explains that Belcanto’s main challenge was to gain more efficiency and better visibility for project information when collaborating across internal and external project teams. Belcanto was also looking to integrate and automate the company’s entire software suite from design to installation, to save time and streamline their workflows wherever possible.

Belcanto required software that would allow them to collaborate more efficiently on construction projects and mitigate mistakes. Simultaneously they would ideally gain more design accountability and greater insight into all project data. Other goals included ensuring Belcanto’s design office was as efficient and innovative as possible, while continuing to deliver precise project information. Patrick says Belcanto also required advice on licensing, implementation, and ongoing support to continuously optimise their software workflows.

Cadpro assisted with the implementation of an end-to-end solution for Belcanto’s all-inclusive design-to-install process. Autodesk Build 550 was used to coordinate and streamline internal design reviews. As Patrick explains, ‘Autodesk Build 550 for internal design review and markup has been essential. We also use presentations in design meetings with external clients across architecture, engineering, and construction.’

The Autodesk Construction Cloud BIM 360 Platform was employed to achieve greater external real-time collaboration, design reviews, and collaborative modelling across construction projects. Autodesk Inventor and Autodesk Vault have supported 3D CAD design for manufacturing and product data management, as well as enabling greater integration and automation with Belcanto’s other Autodesk solutions.  

As a result of implementing an Autodesk software portfolio of products, Belcanto have experienced significant time savings and efficiency in project deliverability. ‘We have had to increase our design capacity due to the capability of our software platform to deliver precise design information in a timely manner. We can turn around projects 50% faster than a year ago.'

Autodesk Build 550 and Autodesk BIM 360 have also enabled greater internal and external live information sharing. Patrick explains that this has helped the team gain a real-time overview of what is happening in project models, raise issues, markups and clashes and promoted greater collaboration, transparency, and design accountability across the project team and stakeholders. He also says it has better positioned Belcanto within the industry by gaining the company ‘A reputation for delivering quality design solutions in real-time, with the ability to deliver digital models and parametric families to assist project consultant briefs.’

Belcanto’s adoption of the Autodesk portfolio of products has seen them achieve greater collaboration internally and externally, greater efficiency, and streamlined workflows from design to installation, with the important added advantage of mitigating the risk of costly project mistakes. Cadpro has further assisted Belcanto to achieve their business goals through support and service; ‘Cadpro are the premiere providers in NZ for Autodesk software, and we required expertise across multiple software platforms to make our design office as innovative as possible.’