Tekla launches solution for construction management in Tekla Structures 14.1 software release

The solution has already been proven in several pilot projects in Finland, United States and the Middle East.

A Tekla model can be used to carry out and manage construction projects all the way from conceptual design to pre-construction planning and site management.

Since its establishment in the 1960s, Tekla has been strong in the structural workflow, especially in detailing and fabrication.

By helping customer companies to deliver a comprehensive and value-added 3D structural model downstream in the construction process, Tekla is able to provide the highest level of constructability in the industry.

Tekla's solution for managing the pre-construction, construction planning and site management phases of a construction project supports contractors, sub-contractors, and project management professionals by helping them to centralize and visualize project data in the 3D structural model.

Scheduling, cost estimation and cost control can be carried out by an effective communication and decision-making process that results from managing the fragmented nature of both project planning and performance data.

The new Tekla Structures for construction management is available with the latest Tekla Structures 14.1 software release.

Construction projects modeled utilizing Tekla Structures include BIM Showcase nominees University of Virginia South Lawn project, in cooperation with US General Contractor Barton Malow, the Jets/Giants Meadowlands Arena in cooperation with Skanska, as well as the Flamingo recreational center, which was voted as the best construction site in Finland in 2007, in cooperation with Finnish contractor SRV.

In the Middle East, Tekla Structures is used by the Al Habtoor-Murray & Roberts Joint Venture chosen to construct the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Palm Jumeirah, Dubai.

Tekla Structures for construction management includes a tool called Task Manager that allows incorporating time-sensitive data into the Tekla model to control the schedule at various stages and levels of detail throughout the construction project.

It can be used to create, store and manage scheduled tasks, and to link the tasks to their corresponding elements.

The tasks help in creating customizable model views and comprehensive simulations of how the project is proceeding.

What's particularly great about the tasks is that they can be imported from external project management tools, such as Microsoft Office Project, Primavera P6, or Vicosoft Control.

This import functionality allows preserving any schedules that have been created outside the model environment, thereby maintaining schedule intelligence and organization.

"I believe that the construction industry in the UAE can gain a lot from the new solution that we are bringing to the market," says Tahir Sharif, Managing Director, Tekla Middle East.

"With BIM technology the contractor can gain over 20% saving in the construction project and will be more in control of time and budget."

"Combining time and critical project management status data with Tekla model representation of real-world building elements allows creating color-coded views of important conditions regarding project progression. Changing color schemes rapidly based on dates, durations, costs, and various delivery and installation status gives any project team a heads-up view of project activity;" explains Stacy Scopano, Sales and Marketing Manager of Contractor segment at Tekla Inc, Atlanta.