Digital Surveys was awarded a contract for modernization and reconstruction of Skegness Academy, a high school located in Lincolnshire on England's west coast. The project required an accurate as-built model so that the engineers would have all necessary information available for planning purposes.
For this project, Digital Surveys opted for the FARO Photon 120 laser scanner with a max. scanning rate of 990,000 points per second and capable of creating a highly accurate survey of the school. Finally, 230 scans were necessary to scan both the site and the inner building. With the use of reference points the scans were finally combined.
A dimensionally accurate point cloud was created from the scans to provide a highly accurate 3D model of the site.
The video demonstrates a 3D walkthrough of Skegness Academy, showing the result of the survey.
Due to high volumes of laser scanning data, plugins are often necessary to handle them in CAD systems, e.g. AutoCAD and Microstation.
Digital Surveys, however, used PointCab, developed by the German company Laserscanning Europe, to simplify the tasks. PointCab creates—in a fully automated manner—views, sections, and dimensionally accurate representations from the acquired laser scanning data. That being the case, various views of the high school were being created and used in Autodesk Revit. The engineers created a complete 3D model by simply clicking a button.
With the use of laser scanning technology the site was surveyed in a timely and cost-efficient manner that would have never been possible with conventional methods. Furthermore, large volumes of additional data and information were collected.
Using laser scanning technology, companies are able to produce 3D BIMs in a cost and time efficient manner.
The 3D Building Information Model (BIM) is becoming more and more sought after in the construction industry because of its proved ability to model, visualize, analyze, and simulate on a PC.
Autodesk Revit provides a convenient way to handle BIM projects with large volumes of data. Architects and engineers can use Autodesk Revit Architect to digitally create and implement concepts; these concepts and ideas can later be updated and adapted during the project. The combination of Autodesk Revit and PointCab has proved to be a winning formula for this project.
