Member Article

New Virtual Reality Technology Brings Buildings To Life

Leeds based Adept Civil and Structural Consulting Engineers has made a significant investment in the very latest virtual reality technology to bring building designs to life and enable users to walk around, explore and fully immerse themselves in new developments, well before construction work starts.

The system works by fully translating Building Information Modelling (BIM) plans into a fully immersive virtual reality experience. This offers engineers, architects, developers and construction companies, as well as clients and end-users, a realistic impression of how a building will look, feel and function.

Erol Erturan, managing director of Adept, says: “Virtual reality technology has progressed phenomenally in recent years and is now at a stage where it can really add value to the construction industry. Our system offers stunning, interactive internal and external walkthroughs of entire buildings, and it’s immediately proving popular with our architecture and construction clients.

“It’s extremely detailed, covering everything from how doors will open and close, and even incorporates the angle of the sun, which gives a real sense of perspective. It also offers a wide range of interactive tools, so users can quickly gauge distances and spaces, as well as changing things such as colour schemes or lighting.”

Erol adds: “We were very early adopters of BIM and now use it on all projects regardless of size because we immediately recognised the benefits of designing a building in a collective manner, using one central source of truth. It also enables every organisation that’s contributing to a building’s design and its maintenance, to collaboratively communicate, saving both time and money whilst reducing errors and ensuring a great result for clients. Being able to now translate these models into virtual reality walkthroughs is yet another way that BIM can add value, and I envisage that virtual reality will soon become the norm across all our projects.”

This latest investment comes on the back of Adept expanding into aerial site photography with a state of the art photography drone and a specialist qualification for its operator. Matthew Ramsden, a director at Adept, qualified as an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operator with the Civil Aviation Authority to pilot the company’s quadcopter drone and take aerial photography and video footage from a legal height of up to 120 metres (400 feet). This has since been developed further to offer an aerial 3D modelling service, as a direct result of client demand.

Last year the company also launched an innovative laser point cloud scanning service, enabling it to produce highly detailed and accurate 3D models of buildings, landscapes and sites that can range from tens right up to thousands of square metres, in a matter of hours.

Adept was founded in 2007 by business partners, Erol Erturan, Matthew Ramsden and Richard Parker. It has an annual turnover of more than £2 million. Clients include a wide range of regional and national construction and development firms such as Strategic Team Group, McCarthy & Stone, ISG, Simons Construction, Interserve, Asda, Next PLC, Debenhams, CBRE and Town Centre Securities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steven Wright .