Autodesk’s Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Collection, an industry leading comprehensive project lifecyle solution for AEC Industry, was developed to provide specialists with a set of BIM and CAD tools (and a cloud-based data environment) on a single package.

The AEC Collection enables the creation of high-quality building and infrastructure designs with conceptual and detailed design tools. It enables designers and engineers to optimise projects with integrated analysis, generative design, and also visualisation and simulation tools. These improve predictability in the field as a result of enhanced project coordination and collaboration among the team.

Single point product design suites can be limiting. With the AEC Collection, users can access all solutions across infrastructure, building, and construction. According to Elijah Ochieng’, Infrastructure Applications Engineer and BIM Specialist at WorldsView, larger companies believe the AEC Collection is among the best solutions in the market, as it gives them the tools needed to manage multiple, distriubuted projects, across the disciplines and teams.

“There are a number of BIM and CAD applications available but what makes the Collection stand out in terms of capability and functionality is that it is futuristic. It takes the future requirements of integration into account. In addition, the solution is continuously developed, with new releases available every quarter and major updates and releases annually. It enables interoperability, ideal for professionals seeking a platform to share and use data across the various project phases. The Collection ensures you don’t lose important info along the way as you move across the design phases,” comments Ochieng. “Work completed in the concept phase can easily be migrated into the next stage, and the user can go back and access the design content as it was in the previous project phase’s version, if necessary”.

The AEC Collection enables operational efficiency. “You design with the end in mind, bringing in Facilities Operation and Maintenance (O&M) teams to comment right at the start. This ensures that you don’t only have a successful project delivery phase, but even a seamless and effective O&M,” explains Ochieng.

Optimising a project from concept to complete design

Ochieng describes how in infrastructure projects, the Autodesk Docs in the AEC Collection enables document management and version control of all the design elements files, both 2D and 3D. The AEC Collection also has BIM enabled tools that allow designers to work in 3D, while incorporating 4D and 5D designs; that is, project schedules and project costing, respectively.

“With the AEC Collection, design teams are able to perform feasibility studies for the design while integrating other data rich solutions like ArcGIS, and take their project from concept design through to detailed design and construction documentation. For infrastructure design, tools in the AEC Collection, such as Autodesk InfraWorks, allow for design-related analysis and simulations. These enhance the design outcome and improves decision-making and provisions. This includes traffic and mobility analysis and simulation, which are integral in every transportation design. Designers can still go further in their design process to perform design optimisation, to ensure that optimum cost and delivery timelines are adopted with respect to geometries that best suit the proposed transportation network.”

These capabilities give the user a competitive advantage, enabling them to win more work. “The Collection gives the user more tools to improve on efficiency and cost effectiveness, to deliver the project in time. This ensures their team is made available to bid on or move on to other projects,” explains Ochieng. “We have found that success rates are higher for users of the AEC Collection than for its competitors”.

The design and construction of the headquarters of one of the large commercial banks in Kenya was completed on time, thanks to the utilisation of the AEC Collection tools and BIM Workflows, that enable better design efficiencies, effective communication and collaboration among project team members. “Challenges and issues were addressed in time, with an approximate projected 5%-time saving, and was completed within cost. Considering that construction projects seldom achieve scheduled timelines, 5% is a significant difference. If a project is running for three years, 5% of time converted to cost is a significant saving,” says Ochieng.

A solution that enables sustainable design

The AEC Collection is also ideal for companies with sustainability on their agenda, as it is one of the industry leading solutions that incorporates sustainability design tools. Autodesk Insight, for example, performs energy analysis requirements for a building, and tracks the carbon footprint of a project, as well as enabling planning for sustainable operational efficiency and management.

In addition, the solution is competitively priced. Most projects require the purchase of two or more point products. However, the purchase of the AEC Collection – which offers all the functionalities and benefits of the other products in a single solution – is more cost-effective.

The AEC Collection is available from WorldsView, a value-added distributor of Autodesk solutions across Africa and from more than 300 channel partners across the continent.