Computing in Civil Engineering.

ASCE Specialty Conference on Fully Integrated and Automated

Project Processes. Eds. A D Songer & P Chinowsky Sept. 2001, pp 437-447

TOWARDS COMPUTER-BASED INTEGRATION OF THE CLADDING PROJECT

DELIVERY PROCESS

Emeka Agbasi+, Chimay Anumba+, Alistair Gibb+, Abdulla Kalian*, Alistair Watson*
+
Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Loughborough University, Loughborough,
Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK
E-Mail E.Agbasi@lboro.ac.uk C.J.Anumba@lboro.ac.uk A.G.Gibb@lboro.ac.uk
*
CAE Group, School of Civil Engineering, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
E-Mail a.a.kalian@leeds.ac.uk a.s.watson@leeds.ac.uk

ABSTRACT
The cladding sector of the construction industry in the UK accounts for over £2 billion worth
of output each year but it faces growing pressures to improve the efficiency of its business
processes in order to compete effectively in the growing global market. This paper describes
an on-going project aimed at integrating the processes involved in delivering a cladding work
package. The cladding delivery process involves a number of activities - design, fabrication
and installation, and the supply chain spans two industries with two different cultures,
construction and manufacturing. The cladding supply chain consists of the project
designer/specifier and installer who predominantly operate within the construction domain
while the cladding system designer, fabricator and materials supplier largely function within
the manufacturing sector. These organisations have varying operating structures and
contractual relationships, and they undertake either front-end or back-end tasks.
Consequently, an organisationally driven integration appears not a viable proposition since it
requires the capture of knowledge across organizational boundaries, which may be of no
benefit and an unnecessary burden to smaller organisations. Instead, a common computer-
based information architecture for sharing information between organisations involved in
cladding projects is proposed as a more realistic approach. One of the barriers to making the
overall design and installation of rainscreen cladding elements a more efficient and integrated
process is the absence of standards for the exchange of data about the cladding between
project designers/specifiers (architects and engineers) and manufacturers. Furthermore,
analysis of the current business practice identified bottlenecks, largely occurring at the
interface of the operations of the two industries involved, thus presenting a focal point for
process integration based on a product model approach. The business process involved in the
procurement of rainscreen cladding has been modelled to provide a reference process model.
The product model outlined herein links the scheme design and the detailed design activities.
Data needs at the scheme design stage were analysed to develop an initial 2D product model
for rainscreen cladding. The central data structures of the conceptual schema captures the
requirements for each elevation of the building with rainscreen cladding, and is currently
being implemented as a prototype software to provide a design phase tool, which will be
tested in real-life design situations.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Construction industry focused studies [Construct IT 1995, CIB 1997, DETR 1998] in the UK
commonly agree that the industry needs to review its business processes in order to be more
efficient and to deliver construction projects that are on time, of better quality, cost-effective,
and better satisfy the needs of the industry’s clients. A key factor in the problems of the
construction industry is its fragmentation, and this has also been identified in the US

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construction industry [Sanvido and Medeiros 1990]. The UK cladding sector mirrors this
fragmentation, with the result that it is inefficient and lacks the capacity to compete
effectively in the growing global market. Some of the key problems faced by the sector
include: lack of integration of information on client needs, design, manufacture and
installation, resulting in much rework, loss of data, and data generated at one stage not readily
available for reuse downstream or on future projects; lack of standardisation in product
description resulting in information and data exchange problems; and lack of co-ordination
and collaboration between the different participants (clients, designers, systems suppliers,
specialist sub-contractors (i.e. fabricators), installers, main contractors, etc.) involved in
cladding projects. This situation, coupled with the need to improve the delivery process of
cladding projects, led to the Computer- Integrated Manufacture of Cladding Systems
(CIMclad) project [CIMclad 2000], an industry-led initiative investigating the feasibility of
improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the cladding sector through the development
of a standardisation and integration framework for computer-integrated manufacture of
cladding systems for building projects. The initial focus is on rainscreen cladding [CWCT
1998, Anderson and Gill 1998], which serves as a pilot for the wider cladding sector.
Rainscreen cladding is defined as a layered cladding system comprising of:
• A visible outer skin that also forms the primary rain barrier. This causes the majority of
water to drain down its surfaces, but does not prevent the passage of air into the air gap.
• An air gap that prevents water ingress into the building. This provides ventilation and,
depending on the design and dimensions of the rainscreen and air gap, may be intended to
provide pressure equalisation across the outer skin.
• A backing wall that forms an effective air barrier. This typically also provides support to
the outer skin, and frequently includes an insulating layer.

Figure 1 shows the key features of a rainscreen cladding.

This paper describes current work on computer-based integration of the cladding project
delivery process using a product model approach to improve information transfer. It first
describes a generic cladding project delivery process, and analyses the rainscreen cladding
sector to identify potential for process improvement within a standardisation, integration and
automation framework. It then introduces the modelling approach adopted, and describes the
scope of the initial rainscreen cladding product model being developed and the software
implementation strategy.

Figure 1. Simplified illustration of rainscreen cladding [CWCT 1998]

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2.0 CLADDING SUPPLY CHAIN

2.1 CLADDING PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS

The design, fabrication and installation of cladding for a building project involves a supply
chain comprising a number of participants having formal or informal relationships. The
relationships between the different parties vary with the procurement method and their
implications on the cladding process have been discussed in a CIMclad project report [Agbasi
et. al. 2001]. Also described in the same report are the organisations forming the cladding
supply chain and their roles.

Generally, the project designer/specifier acting on the client’s brief, particularly within the
boundaries of cost and performance, produces concept scheme drawings showing an outline
of the elevations and sections of the building envelope. This process takes due consideration
of the function of the envelope and visual effects through the selection of appropriate
materials and performance specification. The concept scheme design is then taken through
the planning approval stage and sufficient design detail is added to enable the building
envelope work package to be put out to tender (except in a partnering scenario). Thus, the
full scheme design produces general arrangement drawings of the building showing the
elevation and section details of the building envelope, and specifications. The external
appearance of the building envelope gives an indication of the type of cladding required. The
general arrangement drawings and specification of the building envelope produced by the
project design team form the basis for the detailed design of the cladding element. A
cladding system is a component-based assembly usually involving a number of components.
The detailed design produces a layout of the cladding including a schedule of component
length and sizes, spacing of members, fixings and connections, and interfaces with other
elements of the building. The design is aimed at satisfying the requirements of the project
specifications but within the limits of the type of cladding system used. Using the materials
bought in from the various suppliers, fabrication essentially involves cutting, drilling and
punching the components to the required sizes and shapes, and packaging in readiness for site
delivery. Installation is a site-based activity that involves the erection of the cladding
components, in some instances pre-assembled, to complete the façade.

2.2 RAINSCREEN CLADDING SECTOR ANALYSIS

The rainscreen cladding supply chain was chosen for the initial study, as it is perceived as a
potential growth market. Analysis of information obtained from visits to a number of
companies involved in the front-end through to the back-end activities of the supply chain
revealed a growing pressure on project designers/specifiers from rainscreen cladding
specialist contractors to improve the clarity of information on rainscreen cladding. The
apparent lack of standardisation in product description has often led to poor communication
of design intent leading to unwarranted design changes, increase in design time and cost, and
inadequate pre and post-design specifications. Further down the supply chain, the specialist
cladding contractors are reliant on design software tools provided by their system suppliers
for the detailed design of rainscreen cladding. However, the communication of the rainscreen
cladding full scheme design data by the project designers/specifiers is done via paper
documents (i.e. drawings) in spite of the design data being produced in a digital format. This
is attributed to the absence of effective data exchange capabilities between applications
resulting in information needing to be re-entered. While Information and Communication

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Technologies (ICT) are now quite heavily used in the design of buildings, their use in the
rainscreen cladding supply chain is currently limited. Efforts are being made by most
organisations involved in the supply chain to improve their ICT usage. Regrettably, these
individual efforts are hampered by the lack of an overall strategy within the sector for
electronic information exchange across the supply chain. Currently, the cladding sector as a
whole is not well placed to take full advantage of digital information. A major barrier is the
fact that the sector is too small to support specialist CAD vendors, particularly at the design
stage, with the result that much usage is relatively simplistic. To some extent this can be seen
as an advantage as it presents an opportunity to bypass some of the less advantageous
deployment stages and move the sector directly to leading edge ICT usage.

The study also identified poor collaboration between participants involved in the scheme
design of a project and the subsequent detailed design and supply of the rainscreen cladding.
Current practice does not give adequate attention to the cladding work package at scheme
design stage prior to letting the cladding contract, thus it is often not properly integrated into
the whole building project. This is exemplified by the fact that cladding consultants or
contractors are rarely included in the client’s design team to design or advise on the
construction and performance of the building envelope at the scheme design stage. This
procedure has been partly responsible for major revisions to the scheme design during the
detailed design stage, and often has serious cost implications. The exception is where the
cladding is complex and customised, or in a partnering arrangement, where the cladding
contractor is appointed early in the procurement process to make an input to the work of the
design team during, or immediately after, the scheme design stage. Clearly, there is greater
scope for achieving optimal solutions with greater involvement of cladding consultants /
contractors at the early stages of design.

2.3 FUTURE VISION

In relation to process integration, the construction industry lags behind the manufacturing
industry in the adoption and implementation of ICT required to support an integrated working
environment. This could be partly attributed to the product-oriented nature of the
manufacturing industry making it more amenable to process integration and automation
relative to the currently fragmented and project-driven construction industry. In the late
1980s, Yates [1987] recognised automation through integration as the major opportunity for
improvement in construction productivity.

The long-term vision for the whole of the cladding sector is the integration of all the stages of
the cladding project delivery process. This is increasingly being recognised as vital for
success in today’s competitive climate. Computer-integrated manufacture of cladding
systems for building projects is still an aspiration for the cladding sector. This would involve
a process where the scheme design of the cladding is transmitted digitally to the organisation
responsible for the detailed design, and the subsequent fabrication of the cladding
components is controlled without the need for paper documents. Today, different software
vendors have addressed individual tasks leading to ‘islands of automation’ that are not
integrated. From a software perspective, to achieve the vision of a fully integrated and
largely automated cladding project processes, a single software suite spanning the whole
specification-design-manufacture-installation cycle is needed. However, given the wide
spectrum of activities that would need to be supported (for example drafting, detailing,

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estimating, costing, planning, scheduling, CNC control), a more realistic approach is to

facilitate the effective flow of information between discrete applications.

3.0 INTEGRATION OF THE CLADDING PROJECT DELIVERY PROCESS

3.1 APPROACH

Section 2.2 highlighted some of the key problems facing the rainscreen cladding sector.
Organisations involved in the cladding supply chain span two industries with different
operating cultures. Therefore, an organisationally driven integration appears to be an
unrealistic option since it requires the capture of knowledge across organizational boundaries,
which may not be beneficial to smaller organisations. Instead, a common computer-based
information architecture for sharing information between the organisations involved in
cladding projects looks more promising. Judging from the rainscreen cladding sector
analysis given in Section 2.2, the first step towards achieving a fully integrated and
automated cladding project process would be to standardise the information interface
between the scheme design and the detailed design. A product model that encapsulates the
designer’s requirements has been proposed in the CIMclad project. The product model
concept is introduced in the following section. It is envisaged that, amongst others, using a
product model approach to improve information transfer should reduce the current design
loop or changes in the design associated with missing or insufficient information in the
scheme design and/or specification. Consequently, current work focuses on developing
product model-based prototype design software that would capture and transfer information.

3.2 PRODUCT MODEL CONCEPT

A product model is a coherent agreed model of the information that arises during the
engineering design and the engineering realisation of a particular class of product [Watson
1995]. Its use is in the formal specification of data exchange standards for the efficient
movement of information (in digital form) within the product supply-chain, between different
applications software and between different companies. Almost all work on product models
has either taken place within ISO 10303 [ISO 10303 1993], more commonly known as STEP
(Standardisation for the Exchange of Product model data), or is based on parts of the ISO
10303 standard. The key feature of a product model is that it defines how the underlying
engineering information should be structured (conceptual schema) rather than focusing on a
graphical representation thus overcoming the limitations associated with the first generation
graphical CAD data exchange standards such as the Initial Graphic Exchange Specification
(IGES), a specification for exchange of geometry between systems. The shortcomings of
IGES in transferring non-geometric product design information have been reported elsewhere
[Wilson 1987]. The central object classes of product models describe the functional parts of
the artefact and assemblies formed by them, rather than the concepts needed for representing
them in different kinds of documents.

At present, there are two product model based data exchange standards that will have a major
impact on the future usage of ICT within the construction sector, the International Alliance
for Interoperability (IAI)’s Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) [IAI 1996] and CIMsteel
Integration Standard (CIS) [Crowley et. al. 1995]. Both are based on established product
model concepts outlined in STEP and they represent a strategic approach based on mapping

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engineering information into agreed coherent neutral representations. Whilst IFC aims at
bringing about interoperability within the construction sector, with particular emphasis on
cross-disciplinary co-ordination and sharing information down the full project life-cycle, the
CIS focuses on the steel sector and provide comprehensive data exchange standards for
structural steel frames spanning analysis and design, detailing, fabrication and erection.

A significant number of construction-related product modelling research has taken place.

This has resulted in a number of all-encompassing product models, such as the RATAS
model [Bjork 1989], GARM model [Gielingh 1988] and the AEC Building Systems model
[Turner 1990], being proposed. However, many of the building product models that have
been proposed in the literature are rather theoretical and yet to reach a stage where they can
easily be implemented by software companies [Karhu 1997]. There has been a shift from all-
encompassing product models to conceptual schemas describing more limited domains, also
described as aspect models. An example of an aspect models is the Integrated Data Model
(IDM) provided by the COMBINE project [Dubois et. al. 1992]. Karhu [1997] has
implemented product model-based prototype software for design of precast façades.

3.3 PROCESS INTEGRATION

The first steps in the development of the product model are to understand and define the
process within which the data exchange has to take place and develop a conceptual schema
defining the information requirements of the product model. This is a prerequisite for
integration and automation of any process. Case studies of companies involved in the
rainscreen supply chain were undertaken to establish the current industry practice as
described in Section 2.1. The companies included those engaged in the front-end activities –
project designers/specifiers and those involved in back-end activities – rainscreen cladding
contractors which include system fabricators and installers.

Existing models such as the Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol [Kagioglou
et. al. 1998] and the Architect’s Plan of Work [RIBA 2000] provide high-level information
on processes involved in construction and building projects respectively. No formal model
currently addresses the procurement and installation of rainscreen cladding, a subset of a
building supply chain. Although the processes involved are understood within the cladding
supply chain, they need to be made explicit to the wider building industry. The business
processes of the supply chain can be broadly split into five stages: scheme design (concept
and full scheme design), rainscreen contract, installation design (detailed design), rainscreen
fabrication, and rainscreen installation. To model the process, IDEF0 [IDEF0 1993] derived
from the structured analysis and design technique [Marca and McGowan 1987] was chosen
as the activity-modelling tool. A formal IDEF0 process model [Kalian et. al. 2001a]
spanning the total process from developing a cladding system through developing the design
of a particular rainscreen installation to fabricating and installing the rainscreen has been
developed. A simplified version of the model focusing only on the five stages is shown in
Figure 2. The model defines the incremental aggregation and transfer of information down
the design-to-install supply chain. It is an idealised process model that employs a simple
linear sequence of logical stages. Each stage represents a coherent collection of activities
that, on the procurement of a particular rainscreen, may or may not follow the temporal order
implied by this simplified model.

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Development of The tender (or Development of Manufacture and The installation

the full scheme other) process by the co- pre assembly and
design for the which the ordinated Fabrication of the commissioning
project as-a- rainscreen design and rainscreen of the
whole. contractor is production components and rainscreen.
Within which appointed and the information for their timely Including any
the outline contractual the rainscreen. delivery to site. as-built
scheme design framework Including Including documentation
for the established. establishing the developing the
rainscreen is Including the parameters installation
established. specifications for governing its method
the rainscreen. installation. statement.

Rainscreen
Contract

Scheme Design the Fabricate Install

Design Installation Rainscreen Rainscreen

Full scheme Contract Full design Fabrication Co-ordinated

design for document Installation drawings installation
overall project Rainscreen sequence Delivery programme.
Outline scheme specification schedule Installation
design for Programme Installation progress record
rainscreen milestones method As-built
statement document
Inspection Commissioning
certificates report
Completion
Certificate

Focus of PM

Figure 2. Simplified process model for rainscreen cladding

The initial focus of the product model is the interface between scheme and detailed design as
shown in Figure 2. A complementary information technology-based process model for the
cladding sector is presented in Figure 3. This figure shows both the current technology,
which is largely 2D (i.e. two dimensional) CAD, and the projected technology which
anticipates the wider building design process migrating to 3D CAD and onward to more
formal building models. On these diagrams the initial scope of the rainscreen product model
is shown dotted. The role of this product model is to capture the requirements against which
the rainscreen scheme design was developed, and to transfer all this information into the full
design stage. As relatively little information needs to be captured about the third dimension,
this initial product model has been called the “2D PM”. Thus the 2D PM holds information
relating to each rainscreen elevation, enabling this information to “painted” onto the building
model that exists at full design stage. This does mean that industrial deployment of the 2D
PM can take place prior to 3D CAD being widely adopted, but additional advantages will
result when using 3D CAD.

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2D CAD 2D CAD 3D CAD 3D CAD

Building Building Building Building
Specifications Specifications Specifications Specifications
Scheme Full Scheme Full
outline full outline full
Design Design Design Design

Marked-up 2D CAD
Concept 2D CAD Full or vendors Fabrication Concept 2D PM Full 2D+ PM Fabrication
Scheme Design Drawings Scheme Design Drawings
generic specific specific generic specific specific
2D CAD
2D+ CAD
or vendors
or vendors
Specifications Specifications Specifications Specifications Specifications Specifications
generic “generic” specific generic “generic” specific

Current Technology Projected Technology

Figure 3. Scope of the initial rainscreen product model (2D PM)

The projected technology diagram also shows a 2D+ PM. This extended product model will
have the additional capability of capturing the full rainscreen design, and will convey this
spatially more detailed information into fabrication and installation, thus integrate
downstream activities. The 2D+ PM could be imported into 3D design and detailing
applications to provide back-end drivers for computer numerically controlled (CNC) cutting,
sawing and drilling lines. This is outside the scope of the current work but would be the
focus of future development work. In defining the requirements for the product model(s), the
focus was on the underlying information irrespective of the contractual framework or
procurement route (since these are variable and could easily change in the future).

Figure 4 indicates the graphical relationships between entities on initial 2D PM for rainscreen
cladding. Each entity, graphically represented by a box, holds a cluster of information that
defines its characteristics and the relationships with other entities are shown with the
connecting lines. The 2D PM is restricted in scope to capturing the rainscreen cladding to a
particular elevation of a building (where all the cladding lies parallel to a specified reference
gridline). Thus, the model is to be used for each elevation of the building but generalisation
to capture each elevation within a single model would not be difficult. Capturing
requirements relating to curved rainscreen cladding lies beyond the scope of the 2D model.
Entities on the upper left hand side of Figure 4: building, building footprint, and context are
important for positioning rainscreen cladding-related data within the overall building. The
building entity defines the characteristics of the building as a whole, for example location,
site elevation, building height, local environment, and it has a footprint which is the plan
shape of the building, and a rainscreen cladding element which captures the general
requirements of the rainscreen cladding such as budget, design data and specification. For
each elevation of the building with rainscreen cladding, the rainscreen extent, boundary
conditions, openings, visual and external features characterises the rainscreen. The
rainscreen area represents an area with a similar type of rainscreen and performance
requirement within a contiguous area of rainscreen as defined by the rainscreen extent. Also
for each elevation of the building, its context entity holds location-related information on
adjacent building parts such as the reference grid for the rainscreen, adjacent building grids
and finished floor levels, and supporting structure to the rainscreen elevation. The support
structure consists of the structural interface and the backing wall, relating to the potential
lines of support along the structural interface (beam, slab, column), and area of the backing
wall (ignoring any openings) to an elevation respectively. The type definitions of the entities
are also shown in Figure 4 and a more formal presentation of the entities and their attributes
have been reported in detail elsewhere [Kalian et. al. 2001b].

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Building Footprint

Building RainscreenCladding Type of

Rainscreen Cladding

Context Elevation RainscreenExtent RainscreenArea

Type of
Boundary Condition Rainscreen Performance

Type of
Structure Boundary Condition

Opening
Structural Interface Backing Wall

Type of
Opening
Type of Type of
Structural Edge Backing Wall
Visual Feature
External Feature

Type of
Visual Feature
Type of
External Feature

Figure 4. Indicative rainscreen cladding 2D PM

4.0 2D PM PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE

Incremental implementation and experimentation of prototype software both to test and prove
the 2D PM product model is currently in progress. The implementation architecture
envisages two applications; input (Specifier) and output (Browser) tools at the concept
scheme design stage, to facilitate the development of the requirements, and a similar browser
application to convey these to the full scheme design stage.

One of the practical constraints in using a product model to “export” information from one
application and “import” that information into another is that it requires considerable
programming effort to create the necessary data exchange “translators”. The strategy adopted
is to side-step this problem by exploiting existing data exchange “translators”, specifically the
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) translators that are provided with some CAD systems such
as Autodesk’s Architectural Desktop and GraphiSoft’s ArchiCAD. This is appropriate
because the initial 2D PM links the scheme design to the detailed design which are more in
the front-end construction industry domain rather than the back-end manufacturing industry
domain of the project delivery process. A property-set based approach has been adopted
which will be more fully reported in a future paper.

5.0 CONCLUSION

This paper has described on-going project aimed at integrating and standardising the
information flow in a rainscreen cladding project using a product model. This is a
prerequisite for full automation of the project delivery process. Review of the current
industry practice identified bottlenecks that informed the focus of the initial product model –

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to bridge the scheme and detail design. The current procurement process has been modelled
and the scope of the initial 2D PM is defined. Work is in progress to implement the 2D PM
prototype software tool, a design phase tool that would capture and transmit the requirements
for rainscreen cladding. This is intended to lead, in the longer term, to full scale computer-
integrated manufacture of cladding systems.

Acknowlegement

The CIMclad project is funded under the Innovative Manufacturing Initiative: Meeting
Clients’ Needs Through Standardisation (EPSRC/DETR LINK project GR/N12770). In
addition to the two academic partners, the project involves a significant number of industrial
partners whose input to this paper is gratefully acknowledged as are input from other sources.
For more details visit the project web site: http://www.cae.civil.leeds.ac.uk/current/cimclad

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