Digitalisation helps companies improve their competitiveness. Above all, it is useful in an environment replete with data, which is sometimes hard to use and understand if you do not have the right tools.

The AEC (Architecture/Engineering/and Construction) and nuclear sectors are also subject to this need for transformation. This is even more the case if we keep in mind the boom in new processes like the BIM methodology, which is defined by the European Commission for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship, and SMEs as “the heart of digital transformation” in these sectors.

This is no surprise if we look into the EU’s strategic priorities for the business sector, focused on the idea that the continent’s companies lead in the new, digital age, in search of this greater competitiveness in the companies that form part of the European Economic Area.

INGECID in AEC and nuclear digitalisation

Accommodating the needs of digitalisation with the management and execution of engineering, architecture, construction, and nuclear projects is no easy task, as there are several participants that intervene in executing it.

In order to facilitate relationship and participation of each and every one of the actors and to satisfy the growing need for digitalisation and data processing, INGECID has developed a digital tool to respond to these needs: VIRCORE, with the motto “Simple management for complex projects”.

INGECID markets this collaborative platform that facilitates communication among all of a project’s participants, regardless of their role and within just one interface, always complying with the requirements of the BIM methodology, while adding support for the needs laid out by ISO 19650 (the international standard for information management over the whole lifecycle of a built asset using said methodology).

VIRCORE’s advantages in the AEC and nuclear sectors

This application goes beyond mere document management and model visualisation. Really, it covers the entire spectrum of projects:

Plans
Budget
4D Simulations
Certifications
Maintenance, etc.

Just one collaborative platform connects all the aforementioned points using BIM models. It is classified within what is known as the CDE (Common Data Environment) and offers an enormous capacity for adaptation and expansion according to the sector it is applied to and the needs specified.

VIRCORE success stories

The VIRCORE software is currently used in several pioneering projects in the industrial, nuclear, public works, and building fields. Standing out are Phase Ib of Bilbao’s Southern Metropolitan Bypass, or the technological platform development project for managing the dismantling of Norwegian nuclear power plants.

In the first case, VIRCORE has allowed for total multi-project management with high security standards, and all the participants can access the project from anywhere. VIRCORE has definitely been a facilitating force in this project for true, fluid, and transparent collaboration among all parties, offering agility and complying with the standards and objectives of the BIM methodology.

In the nuclear field, apart from the Norwegian project, INGECID has also used VIRCORE in Spain for dismantling the Santa María de Garoña nuclear power plant.

A 3D model of the power plant was integrated into the project using this software, along with different modules for gathering all the radiological inventory, cost control and tracking, planning, etc., which has allowed all the dismantling activity to be completely optimised.