Future-Buit: CPAC Unlocks the Digital Dimensions of Modular Innovation
CPAC Modular has harnessed the power of a cutting-edge construction sector technologies to develop, among other notable projects, Ireland’s first fully modular primary school building.
Much is made of the lag in building within the Irish housing sector. However, just as urgent is the need to develop infrastructure to underpin these housing developments.
CPAC Modular has pioneered off-site construction and the use of digital technology to develop best-in-class projects. The recent culmination of this effort? Ireland’s first fully modular primary school at Kishoge in Lucan, Co. Dublin.
CPAC Modular, leveraging Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), successfully delivered a two-storey primary school building in just 18 months – significantly faster than using traditional construction methods.
CPAC Modular employs a huge variety of modern methods of construction (MMC). Outside of building with volumetric modular panels, the company uses drone cameras, with the footage integrated into project management software Autodesk Construction Cloud. The data, accessible in real-time, allows the design team to send information to the production floor so that steel is rolled to the precise specifications.
Live visuals also allow quantity surveyors to track inventory and measure building parameters, as well as keep tabs on vehicles and workers onsite.
Mark Whitehead, Construction Director at CPAC Modular, said digital technologies are helping companies bridge the gap between what can be done and what needs to be done. He added that these tools are only as good as a workforce able to master them.
MMC skills are hugely important for us. It's part of our growth plan and we need the future workforce to be able to push forward to complete that growth plan.
Construction Director at CPAC Modular
Further commitment to using digital technologies for upskilling in MMC is in CPAC Modular’s ‘Digital Dimensions’ immersive VR technology. The experience takes people onto a ‘digital campus’ of CPAC’s key projects, allowing people to view a digital rendering of the real building and surrounding areas. This allows users to explore the space before it is built and envisage how it will look when completed.
Though CPAC Modular have been using this type of technology for years, it is still rarely used in the industry to demonstrate the potential of a building project.
People can have all the blueprints and 3D renders of what a building will look like, but they just don’t know what they are looking at in the same way. With this type of VR technology, now they can see what they are really getting.
Construction Director at CPAC Modular
Recent demonstrations of their Kishoge Primary School project using Digital Dimensions has convinced CPAC Modular of the potential of this tool. The company is now considering a roadshow to bring this VR technology to businesses nationwide.
The use of this digital technology in MMC will take ‘seeing is believing’ to a new level.
