Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure 2019 Award Winner in Buildings and Campuses  

Award Winner at Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure (YII 2019) Conference

At Bentley Systems’ Year in Infrastructure Conference in Singapore, Voyants Solutions was named the winner in the Buildings and Campuses category for the Detailed Design, Tendering and Project Management Services for the Establishment of 12 IT/Hi-Tech Parks.  The Year in Infrastructure Awards are an integral part of the conference, which brings together infrastructure professionals to share innovative practices in infrastructure project design, engineering, construction, and operations with the media.  The highly coveted global competition recognizes going digital advancements in infrastructure.  At the Year in Infrastructure 2019 Conference, I interacted with Swati Agarwal, Vice President and Head of Project Management at Voyants Solutions, to understand what the award-winning project was all about.  

About the Company: Voyants Solutions is one of India’s fastest growing, premier infrastructure consultancy services firms with a global footprint (across 200 cities in 28 countries on three continents viz. Asia, Africa and Europe), providing end-to-end, integrated infrastructure solutions across all major sectors.  Their clients include Fortune 500 companies, blue-chip corporations, multilateral funding institutions, prestigious government agencies, and key lending institutions.  The company has received many awards and accreditations.  

Project Synopsis

To facilitate economic and social growth in eight administrative regions of Bangladesh, 12 high-tech IT parks are being developed as smart green campuses in 12 districts.  This project is being developed under a strategic partnership between India and Bangladesh and funded by the Export-Import Bank of India to enhance bilateral relations.  The objectives are to:

• Create a conducive business environment to attract local and foreign companies to operate IT/ITEs companies
• Establish standard IT/ITEs/BPO hubs
• Establish basic infrastructure for IT parks
• Develop skilled manpower and provide employment opportunities

The project’s mandate was to create a world-class environment to work and collaborate, set up their business and promote innovation and technological development.  Voyants was responsible for conceptual design of the project prototype through to commissioning and client handover.  With limited design parameters and timeframe to create an iconic and unique campus, Voyants required flexible 3D modeling applications. 

Voyants’ team proposed a design concept based on the water lily, the national flower of Bangladesh, with a curvilinear building structure and connecting walkways, skywalks, and plazas throughout the campus.  STAAD helped design the complex geometric framing while OpenBuildings Designer provided 3D visualization and integration of architectural and engineering elements.  Bentley applications helped optimize design coordination to submit the schematic design 15 days early, saving 50 percent in design time, with 60 percent less resources, and achieving an ROI of five times the initial investment.  The 3D model will further facilitate construction scheduling and monitoring.

Sustainable Development

The project has been designed in harmony with the natural terrain and topography, without disturbing the ecosystem, with well-ventilated interaction spaces.  The focus is on performance efficiency, waste and e-waste management, reducing carbon footprint, water conservation, and socio-economic benefits (ready-to-use infrastructure and an increase in employment opportunities).

Conclusion

By adopting Bentley’s software solutions, the company adhered to rigid schedules and timelines.  These applications helped increase the capacity building of the team allowing for additional projects to be handled at the same time.  Other benefits included expediting the next steps of the project and gaining client loyalty and confidence.  In Ms. Agarwal’s words, “Iconic designs are expressions generated from innovative minds and innovative tools – Bentley’s software helped the ideas to take shape and create the structures helping architect visualization come to fruition.”