Omnix International said that it has been awarded a Dh1 million ($272 million) design services contract by Al Futtaim Carillion (AFC), a leading construction company joint venture by Al-Futtaim and Uk-based Carillion.

Omnix is a leading regional technology service provider and integrator in the Middle East.

The agreement entails the use of Revit Architecture and Revit Structure, the latest design software from Autodesk, the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building, media and entertainment markets.

Omnix has identified Autodesk’s software as the ideal solution to meet the unique requirements of developments within ‘Dubai Motor City,’ said a company official.

The construction of projects within the large-scale community development requires close co-ordination among the architects and structural engineers, and constant updating of accurate information for key decision makers.

Facilitating a much tighter integration between structure and architecture departments, Revit Structure and Revit Architecture have generated various reports highlighting the effect of a range of design options, while automatically reflecting the updates made in the plan in real time.

The applications have also enabled Omnix to create special Bills of Quantity (BOQ) and quantity reports for the ‘Circus Red’, ‘Garden 1’ and ‘Garden 2’ projects, whose success is continuously opening doors for the company to acquire further projects within the master development.

“With the move to Autodesk Revit building information modeling platform, we are looking at an improvement in productivity in as much as four to six weeks off drawing production,” said Andrew Piechowiak, principle design manager, Dubai Motor City.

"In addition, we are also seeing the advantages the new software applications are providing the quantity surveying department in finalising quantities faster and more accurately," he noted.

"This presents us with an enormous advantage to speed up our processes, thereby shortening the production cycles while producing higher quality documentation and improving our efficiency," he added.

A project of this massive size and scope demands a highly-integrated solution to manage the immense amount of data and personnel involved in the process.

Through the use of the state-of-the-art software, Omnix has successfully 3D modeled drawings of two zones and approximately eight apartment buildings.

The construction company can now make revisions easier to the model without having to redraw and coordinate the complete plan, which was the norm with its previous 2D software.

"By adopting Autodesk Revit Architecture and Revit Structure, the ‘Dubai Motor City’ project can now be viewed from a single, integrated digital model that contains all project information," Dr Jayant M. Deshpande, director, CAD Division, Omnix.

"The advantages of these solutions have really impressed Al Futtaim Carillion, who especially commended the cutbacks on the duration of their processes and the quality and reliability of information. We are truly proud of Omnix’s involvement with the construction of this prestigious project," he added.-TradeArabia News Service