Articles
CDM Meets Aggressive Schedule, Reduces Man-Hours In Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility Design
January 19, 2009
CDM, a global environmental consulting, engineering, construction, and operations firm, won a 2008 Be Award of Excellence in the "Innovation in Water Resources" and in the "Attaining Return on Innovation" categories for its Arbennie Pritchett Water Reclamation Facility in Florida. The project is featured in the new publication "The Year in Infrastructure 2008," available online from Bentley Systems, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for the infrastructure that sustains our world, at www.bentley.com/YearInInfrastructure2008. The CDM project called for the design and construction of a state-of-the-art, 10 million-gallon-a-day facility to increase the wastewater treatment capacity of growing Okaloosa County in the coastal Florida panhandle. Because the CDM team had to complete the final design in less than six months, rather than the eight- to nine-month average for a project of this size, the project team needed to quickly visualize the client's facility and agree on the form of the elements early in the design process. To meet the aggressive schedule, CDM employed a design-build delivery method using Bentley's 2D to 3D AutoPLANT integration capabilities and ProjectWise collaboration software. Through the use of Bentley's intelligent 3D modeling software across all design disciplines, CDM produced 300 drawings for more than 20 buildings and structures using 17 percent fewer man-hours.
Commenting on the project, William Nelson, CDM vice president, said, "The need for a collaborative work environment was critical given that the engineering team was dispersed geographically. Using Bentley's innovative software the team could agree on the form and function of the elements early in the process, design for sustainability, deliver the final design, and begin construction on time."
Nelson continued, "By using a collaborative rather than an iterative approach, we compressed the design schedule by 30 percent, minimized construction conflicts, reduced engineering and redesign, and produced more effective team and client reviews. Bentley products helped us to manage more than 5,000 engineering documents and to provide the latest information available to team members, which led to better decisions and less rework."
For additional information about Bentley's AutoPLANT software, visit http://www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/Plant+Design+and+Engineering/. For additional information about Bentley's ProjectWise collaboration system, visit www.bentley.com/en-US/Products/projectwise+project+team+collaboration.
About the Be Awards
The Be Awards of Excellence, which are judged by independent panels of industry experts and presented at an evening ceremony during the annual Be Conference, honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users improving the world's infrastructure. These projects set benchmarks and showcase the imagination and technical mastery of the organizations that created them.
To learn about the hundreds of innovative projects nominated for the Be Awards of Excellence during the past five years, visit www.bentley.com/YearInInfrastructure and read Bentley's "Year in Infrastructure" annual publications. For information about how to enter projects for consideration in the 2009 Be Awards of Excellence competition, visit www.bentley.com/BeAwards.
About CDM
CDM is a consulting, engineering, construction, and operations firm delivering exceptional service to public and private clients worldwide. Since 1947 the company has provided innovative solutions developed through strong client relationships of mutual trust and respect with a commitment to quality and integrity. CDM has 4,000 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide that provide service through four major business units – Federal Services Group; Industrial Services Group; International Services Group; and Public Services Group. These units are supported by the Consulting & Engineering divisions and the Construction division, which work together to deliver integrated consulting, engineering, construction, and operations services worldwide.
About Bentley Systems, Incorporated
Bentley is the global leader dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for sustaining infrastructure. Architects, engineers, constructors, and owner-operators are indispensable in improving our world and our quality of life; the company's mission is to improve the performance of their projects and of the assets they design, build, and operate. Bentley sustains the infrastructure professions by helping to leverage information technology, learning, best practices, and global collaboration – and by promoting careers devoted to this crucial work.
Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 2,800 colleagues, offices in more than 50 countries, annual revenues surpassing $500M, and since 1993, has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions. Nearly 90 percent of the Engineering News-Record Top Design Firms are Bentley subscribers, and a 2008 Daratech study ranked Bentley as the world's #2 provider of geospatial software solutions.
For more information about Bentley, visit www.bentley.com.
SOURCE: Bentley Systems, Inc.

