Stantec

One of the first users of the integration between Revit and IESVE analysis, integrating sustainability into BIM

About Stantec
Edmonton-based Stantec is recognized as a world-class leader in the delivery of sustainable solutions. The firm recently received a coveted international ASHRAE award that recognizes successful applications of innovative design, effective energy management, indoor air quality, and mechanical design management technology. Given their focus on sustainable solutions, Stantec was one of the first users of the integration between Revit and the IES analysis applications. “We started using IES’s Virtual Environment modules in the beginning of 2005, making building performance analysis an essential part of the integrated design approach,” explains Bojan Andjelkovic, Building Performance Specialist at Stantec. “The new integration between IES and Revit allows us to use the building information model directly for a broad range of building performance analyses during all stages of design.”

The Challenge
Stantec is also known for using an integrated design team approach on their projects and therefore have a heightened appreciation of the multidisciplinary value of BIM. The firm uses the entire Revit platform for all key disciplines - MEP engineering, structural engineering, and architecture – and was recently awarded Autodesk’s Revit BIM Experience Award Winner for effective integration of the entire Revit BIM platform. They first began using Revit Structure at end of 2005, then Revit Architecture in spring of 2006, quickly followed by Revit MEP in mid-2006.

With 80 locations in North America and the Caribbean, Stantec offers planning, engineering, architecture, surveying, and project management services to public and private clients. And they practice what they preach: their headquarters building was one of the first in Edmonton to earn a LEED-New Construction (NC) silver certification.

The Solution
In the past (before their adoption of IES or Revit), their analysis workflow began by importing CAD files or measuring directly from hardcopy drawings and then building 3D models and separate analysis models for each different design option or analysis. Each analysis model may have taken several days to create, which significantly prolonged the building analysis time. As Andjelkovic puts it, “The less time we need to create analysis models means the more time we have for analyzing design options for better performing buildings.”

They can now use the building information model directly for a broad range of analyses to assess various ‘what-if’ design scenarios, to optimize and integrate different systems (such as lighting and HVAC), and explore synergies between them. In addition to using the capabilities included in the IES Sustainability Toolkit and Revit MEP, Stantec also uses many of the other types of building analyses available from IES within the VE such as natural ventilation simulation and advanced airflow analysis.

Stantec has already used the integration between IES and Revit to analyze a number of projects, including an 82,300 sq. ft. renovation/expansion of the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton and a 250,000 sq. ft. new hotel, the Westin Kelowna Hotel in British Columbia. Analysis specialists like Andjelkovic were Stantec’s early adopters, but the capabilities are spreading to the project teams – engineers and architects alike – to support Stantec’s integrated design team approach.