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Grove Spring @ Yishun
Images: © Housing & Development Board
Project Showcase
Teambuild switches to Archicad
for Grove Spring @ Yishun project
The project
A new Build-To-Order public housing project by Singapore’s Housing & Development Board (HDB) is springing up in Yishun, Singapore. With a façade resembling a grove of trees, complete with earthy colors evoking a forest theme, the Grove Spring @ Yishun is aptly named.
Rising fifteen stories high, eight residential blocks contain a total of 987 units. This large project features built-in recreational facilities, such as playgrounds, adult and elderly fitness stations, and a roof garden atop the multi-story car park (MSCP). Within the development, residents also have access to a resident’s network center and a childcare center.
Project Name: Grove Spring @ Yishun
Project Location: Yishun Avenue 6, Singapore
Project type: Residential
Project size: 8 blocks of 15-storey residential buildings (total 987 units)
Year of completion: 2024
Software/s used: Archicad, BIMcloud, Revit
Architect & Engineer (Structural, MEP, etc): Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd
Consultant: Surbana Jurong Consultants Pte Ltd
Contractor: Teambuild Engineering & Construction Pte Ltd
The team
Teambuild Construction Group
Managing the project, the award-winning Teambuild Construction Group (Teambuild) enhanced the use of BIM in their implementation process. The company’s three decades of experience in progressive multi-disciplinary construction and expertise in residential, institutional, and industrial projects has also made a seamless end-to-end solution possible.
The team at Teambuild has been recognized for pioneering the Prefabricated Pre-Finished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) system in Singapore, a system that enhances construction productivity. Teambuild focused on delivering high value within this PPVC system for all stakeholders on the Grove Spring @ Yishun project.
As an early adopter of Building Information Modeling (BIM), Teambuild credits BIM with the team’s ability to gain valuable insight and wield accurate tools for better decision-making and performance across the construction lifecycle.
BIM helps us to reduce the unproductive processes that are typically associated with large projects. We can complete highly detailed and integrated PPVC virtual mock-up units in record time. For Grove Spring @ Yishun, the virtual mock-ups were completed two months faster than the time we require for previous projects. BIM has helped us to greatly increase our productivity.”
Zaw Myo Tun
BIM Manager, Teambuild Construction Group
The concept
Conquering Challenges
With Grove Spring @ Yishun as Teambuild’s first project on Archicad, it was not without its challenges. However, Teambuild was able to anticipate them, albeit with support and guidance from Graphisoft team in Singapore. Challenges for modeling, documentation, and tile quantity take-off were addressed ahead of time and surmounted via BIM technologies through use of Archicad. For modeling – Teambuild had to determine how their team would create objects by following specifications and catalog. With regard to collaboration, Teambuild needed to decide on a system for setting up a project origin, surveyor origin, and establish how they would be related to the IFC site building origin. There needed to be a way to tie in the project base point across all the other BIM modeling and collaboration tools on the project. Teambuild addressed documentation protocols by examining methods for tiling to provide measurements as well as calculating tile quantity for take-off purposes. All these challenges were addressed ahead of time and surmounted by employing Archicad and relying on the power of BIM.
Zaw Myo Tun explains, “We needed to figure out the best ways to set up a project and surveyor origin, and to reference the project base point across different BIM modeling software and collaboration tools.”
In addition, producing an accurate quantity take-off from construction virtual model for tile ordering during construction stage is another benefit. Teambuild also knew there was a need to collaborate with the MEP sub-contractors who were using another BIM solution. Hence modeling methodology is needed to set and accommodate the above requirements.
Learn more about ArchicadPrior to using Archicad, we were using other BIM software. We consider Archicad to be one of the best and competitively priced openBIM workflow-enabled solutions. It allows us to work with more flexibility while still enabling coordination for peak efficiency.
Zaw Myo Tun
BIM Manager, Teambuild Construction Group
Communication
Support and Strength
Strong support like this gave Zaw Myo Tun and the team at Teambuild confidence to use Archicad for this project. Zaw Myo Tun says Graphisoft team in Singapore was a consistent source of advice to address challenges that come with the type of work the firm took on.
“The implementation of Archicad went smoothly. We can say with absolute certainty that BIM is a vital tool for detecting design, coordination issues, and constructability issues, thereby mitigating the loss of time and cost. Teambuild’s Management recognizes this and works to ensure our BIM team has all the resources it needs.”
This practice of making sure BIM is a priority has taken shape in many ways. Teambuild works to devise new approaches, all the while documenting best practices. For Grove Spring @ Yishun, they rely on an openBIM workflow to work with the pre-caster and M&E subcontractor who are using Tekla and Revit respectively.
Teambuild Construction Group
Check out this model
On Grove Spring @ Yishun, Teambuild developed a well-integrated mock-up unit using Archicad which aligned with the upstream consultants and downstream user. The team is glad that it is achieving its BIM-related milestones without any major challenges thus far.
PPVC projects such as Grove Spring @ Yishun requires unique modeling and documentation practices, to ensure alignment across all parties. “Archicad allows for all parties to communicate more interactively and provides us with the insight and tools for better decision making and performance across the construction lifecycle.”
Collaboration
Flexible Workflow
“With Teamwork, we can predetermine the workflow, the process, modeling methodology, the IFC export, and Input setting to achieve the desired result. Teamwork BIMcloud SaaS allows us to host Teamwork files on the cloud, giving us the flexibility to access the working files from anywhere. This is a useful feature for a main contractor like us, where we deploy BIM team members at both the project site and HQ.”
With help from Graphisoft, Teambuild invested in core team members to become certified through the Graphisoft BIM Manager Program. The ten-week course provides knowledge, tips, and tricks from worldwide experts on Archicad and started to build the capabilities within Teambuild. Building on that foundation of knowledge, Teambuild developed BIM manuals that addressed developing libraries, templates, workflow, and processes. The team at Graphisoft Singapore worked closely with the firm throughout its efforts to learn and enhance these skills.
Learn more about BIMcloudThe Graphisoft team in Singapore held regular weekly meetings with us where they provided expert advice on the challenges we faced. In addition to that valuable time, a WhatsApp group chat was ever-present for support.”
Zaw Myo Tun
BIM Manager, Teambuild Construction Group
Explore the Gallery
Grove Spring @ Yishun
Images: © Teambuild Construction Group
