4D specialists target 4D across the project lifecycle

He sees Validity’s role as not simply a provider of animations: “We come in as a mediator, facilitator: we’re totally unbiased. We’ve got construction backgrounds: we’re not just techie, digital people. And we can facilitate planning, design, and coordination workshops quite easily, and then ask the silly questions that other people in the room might feel uncomfortable asking.

“We put people at the heart of the plan. We get all the right people in the room as early as possible, so that everyone has a say on the programme. Everyone feeds into that programme, and then goes through the process of the 4D workshops and reviewing it visually, tweaking it, testing it and basically kicking it around as much as possible so that everyone is fully bought in – they’ve got the same level of confidence that they can deliver the programme in the way that everybody’s agreed.”

Clarke emphasises: “Keep the focus on the people – the process and the tools are complementary. Engagement is key.”

Whenever you talk to someone about well-delivered 4D planning, the story is the same: the project team expect 4D as the norm from then on. Hanson and Clarke confirm this from their experience.

The former states: “We’ve always said that if you embed this as part of your planning process, from cradle to grave, you’ll see massive gains. Don’t just think about it as a picture or a flashy video that can sell the dream. We’ve seen 4D go from strength to strength on projects: once people have been through a cycle of doing it on a project, they come out the other end and they don’t want to do the next job without it.”

Clarke takes up the story: “We coined them as second and third generation project directors that had delivered one project with 4D and got to know it and saw some of the benefits. Then, on the second project, they had a much better idea. Then on the third one, 4D’s an expectation – we need to incorporate this from the start; we need to do well; and it needs to be structured, detailed, and all those things.”

Not all contractors are 4D-driven, but Hanson says it’s not just for the tier ones: he knows of some tier two contractors that have staff dedicated to 4D.

Clarke adds: “4D is used in a lot of places, but it’s still not an industry standard or expectation. We’re starting at the right time. We have the opportunity to build a reputation and be seen as a market leader to help drive this adoption and promote best practices at all levels.”

Emphasising their mantra that 4D is not just about the animation, Hanson and Clarke want to demonstrate the value of 4D to their clients as they go.

“We want to report back the value of the process and what we’re discovering through the process,” Clarke explains. “We’re looking to issue dashboards to help clients understand where they’ve made gains, where they’ve potentially saved time or cost, and make it a more mature and robust 4D experience. You’re not just buying an animation: you’re getting a full, bottom-to-top review of your buildability that’s backed up by actual outcomes in more formats than just animations and images.”

As mentioned earlier, Validity offers 4D throughout the construction lifecycle, including in disputes and claims.

“4D is definitely more popular in the work-winning, pre-construction phases, because you’re planning for the future, but we are definitely seeing more and more appetite in the claims and dispute space, where they’re finding it really difficult to demonstrate delay and the impact of a delay,” Hanson explains. “If the 4D video is backed up by real-time and as-built data, reports and photos, you can’t argue with it: it’s a visual timeline of what happened.”

Clarke says that adjudicators are now looking to bring in 4D to help assess the “two different stories that have been submitted, to rebuild them visually, to help explain it to the non-technical professional”.

Validity also offers client advisory and business strategy. “That bottles up what we’ve done throughout our careers, and where we’ve had success,” he explains. “It’s the things that we’ve learned about what type of culture you need, what kind of people you need, what kind of training processes and documentation. We’ll help companies that want to go on the 4D journey and give them a leg up and build some structure around it. We’ve already felt the pain, so it’s about helping others to avoid the same pitfalls.”

Hanson concludes: “It’s as much about us and our expertise as it is the process and output.”

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