Rivers Agency Headquarters
The Department for Infrastructure’s Rivers Agency appointed CPD Construction Division to lead the delivery of its new headquarters building at CAFRE’s Loughry Campus in Cookstown.
CPD role
Initially CPD provided advice on the procurement strategy, programme and cost recommendations to inform the business case.
Once this was approved, CPD proceeded to develop an exemplar outline design to meet current NICS office best practice standards.
This included developing the brief with Rivers Agency, providing a concept design and achieving planning approval.
Pilot project for Building Information Modelling (BIM)
CPD took the project forward as a Building Information Modelling (BIM) pilot project. CPD is leading on the implementation of BIM in Northern Ireland. BIM is a collaborative way of working which is underpinned by digital technologies.
These technologies allow for more efficient methods of designing, delivering and maintaining physical built assets throughout their entire lifecycle and is changing how buildings and infrastructure are planned, designed, built and managed.
It is a process which requires the generation and management of digital representations of the physical and functional characteristics of buildings and places.
Amongst other benefits, BIM has the potential to generate significant efficiency savings in construction projects by supporting the creation of innovative designs and optimised engineering solutions which in themselves represent better value for money.
By manipulation of the digital model, BIM can also be used to demonstrate that a building will meet NICS needs, long before there is any work on a construction site.
These BIM models, consist of both 3D geometrical and non-graphical data which are prepared by different parties during the project life-cycle.
Project outcome
Following completion of the exemplar design, CPD used an NEC Option A, Design & Build contract to procure a contractor(QMAC Construction Ltd) to undertake the detailed design and to construct the works. The Dungannon based SME (small or medium enterprise) completed on the project on time and to budget.