At ESS, scheduled to open in 2024, Skanska is constructing the campus that will house the world’s most powerful linear proton accelerator. The 438-million-pound research facility will attract some 3,000 researchers a year and will include a helium-cooled tungsten target wheel, a suite of laboratories and a data centre. On a project of such scale and complexity, the company is relying heavily on Bluebeam® Revu® and Bluebeam Studio™ for everything from design reviews to on-site changes.

Skanska considers their close partnership with Bluebeam crucial to their success, as a new century brings its own set of challenges. “We need to change as time goes on, and we need companies that support our business doing that as well,” says Emil Hagman, Digital Coach for Health, Safety and Sustainability at Skanska Sweden. “Bluebeam is extremely good at that.”

Bringing People Together Across Space and Time

Given Skanska’s size and the scale of the work, it is vital that all the parties can communicate in real time so that plans are reviewed in a timely fashion and changes can be implemented to avoid scheduling delays or – worse yet – costly mistakes in the actual built environment.

Feroz Razwan, Construction Engineer and BIM leader, sees the benefits of digital drawings every day. Formerly, a drawing would be physically marked up and then sent to another office, or several offices, for review. Now, communication has become instantaneous and streamlined with the ability to markup documents on the jobsite using Revu’s mobile application and to send those drawings digitally to other parties. Plus, Skanska saves significantly on paper costs.

Digital drawings also allow users to see not only which changes have been implemented, but by whom. “If I print out a drawing and do some markups, I will not draw my signature, so no one will know who did this and why. But in Revu I can do some markups, everyone will see who did the markup, I can put some comments and maybe they are hidden in the beginning, but you can always get that information; that is very important,” says Razwan.

With the Markups List in Revu, there’s an increased level of accountability. Changes can be tracked and updated so issues don’t linger and it’s clear when an issue has been addressed. Jimmy Forsberg, Skanska Sweden’s Programme Owner for Bluebeam and Development Leader for GoMobile, stresses the importance of being able to access drawings on the go, whether that’s on site or during a busy day at the office. “We have a lot of co-workers that are out on site, and simple solutions and functionality like the Batch Link helps a lot because we can navigate the drawings a lot quicker, especially on our iPads.”

Collaboration and communication extend past geographical distances, as well. Lotta Wibeck, Programme, Business and Change Manager at Skanska Sweden, has noticed that when talking to her peers, they often cite software like Revu for allowing them to connect with co-workers who they might not have otherwise. “In the construction industry you cannot really wait for the answer the next day, you are stuck with your issue right now and you need help directly.” When people understand the value of Revu, how it can help their work and their work-life balance, they are eager to master it.

A Tailor-Made Solution

Skanska, a company of around 10,000 employees in Sweden, has approximately 5,000 users of Revu. The ease of use, ability to standardise features company wide and customise for individual users are what makes the software so valuable to so many people.

Forsberg is a strong believer in the power of Revu to improve lives. “It simplifies a lot of things that we do. You need something that is fairly simple and easy and innovative to use and where you also have the possibility to customise it to your needs.”

Learn more about Bluebeam Revu at www.bluebeam.co.uk

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