Pinnacle-Revit Symbiosis: JULPHAR-KSA PHARMACEUTICAL PLANT, JEDDAH

The Pinnacle Story

‘Slow and steady wins the race’ is an adage that has been virtually trashed by Pinnacle’s rapid and phenomenal progress within a span of two decades. Pinnacle has emerged as a world-leader and above par achiever from its humble beginnings. The Pinnacle ship has been steered by the dynamic Bimal Patwari, who has always stuck to the basics. This is what defines Pinnacle – simplicity. Now Pinnacle is the top-most BIM solutions provider in the world and the preferred choice of some of the biggest names in the global construction industry. Operating out of five locations across the globe (Houston, Dubai, Calolziocorte, Kolkata, and Durgapur) Pinnacle has developed a steady clientele in 30 countries and successfully executed 4000 projects.

The Julphar project was the most challenging project ever undertaken by Pinnacle and the challenge was extenuated by the brand reputation and the immensity of the stakes involved. Pinnacle did not shy away from the challenge because of its trust in Autodesk – the company that provides the technological backup to ‘the BIMmer’. And for this project Autodesk’s Revit 2011 was what exactly Pinnacle required.

The major challenge involved in the Julphar project was related to the fact that Pinnacle had to take care of the entire process from design development to CD set or shop drawing creation. The client had only provided scanned copies of hand-drawn sketches and from them we developed the 2D shop-drawings which totaled up to 60 sheets. Coupled with this were the continuous and exhaustive revisions that were made by the structural engineer from time to time and these went up to as high as seven.

Revit 2011

Revit 2011 helped Pinnacle to create the BOQ (Bill of Quantity), coordination, and shop drawings in 3D, that were later converted into 2D and submitted to M + W Group of Singapore.  This helped the partners from Singapore to clinch the deal at the tendering stage because Pinnacle had made it possible to do so with its highly accurate solution that proved to be the most cost-effective. Also, the icing on the cake was the value-added services of Pinnacle. These services not only strengthened the bond between Pinnacle and the contractor but also enabled the complex project to be completed with the greatest ease. Pinnacle’s value-added services included providing the hanging equipment elevation, duct/pipe/conduct elevation, and the input elevation for diffusers/grille/lights that were not mounted to the ceiling.

However, as Revit was a fairly new software that had been launched recently and since Pinnacle was using this for the first time, there were some initial difficulties that were encountered. For example, Revit could not generate the bill of quantity from the conventional format nor could it provide the individual lengths or areas of the pipe and duct fittings (Revit could only calculate the total area of the duct and the total length of the pipe). Thus, calculating the pipe length for the different areas like the pump room, building area, and the underground area was difficult. A similar difficulty was faced while calculating the total area of the damper. Also, neither did Revit possess sufficient tools for calculating the shuttering area that was also an important requirement from the client’s perspective nor was it possible to calculate the stair volumes.

These problems were solved primarily with the help of the add-ins that were developed by Autodesk or through the individual initiatives of our engineers who used some other features of Revit 2011. Again, the software made it easy for us to maintain the layer standard that was fixed by the client. Another smart feature of Revit 2011 was that it allowed auto updation of the cover sheet along with the 3D model. So, Revit 2011 not only provided us with accurate figures but also spared us the hassles of manual calculations and resultant delays.

In the end, Julphar was a job well done, showcasing Pinnacle’s skill and Autodesk’s technological innovation.