Bouygues E&S leverage technology to facilitate collaboration

Bouygues Energies & Services (Bouygues E&S) is a global leader in energy, digital and industrial transformation. With the expertise of more than 12,500 employees and the combined strength of a major group operating across a diverse range of sectors including critical environments, the company provides engineering excellence and services through distinctive design, build, maintenance and operation of infrastructure, buildings and industrial facilities.

As a client-centric technical services partner specialising in facilities management, energy performance and renewable energy solutions, Bouygues E&S works to overcome technological, human and environmental challenges through a delivery model focused on innovation, energy-efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Facilitating collaboration for better ways of working

Bouygues E&S places continuous improvement high up on their agenda in line with the demands of their clients to help deliver more sustainable design and build services. As the team has grown, Bouygues E&S has found that processes need to be optimised to ensure smooth collaboration between an increasing number of stakeholders. Being able to gain real-time insight into key documentation, like drawings, has been an ever-increasing priority. 

By adopting Autodesk Build within Autodesk Construction Cloud™, Bouygues E&S are leveraging technology to facilitate collaboration between different individuals within their team, and to aid communication with their clients and supply chain partners. Miles Messenger, Head of Energy Engineering, has worked in the Energy Solutions team since its formation some ten years ago. “We have been using a variety of technologies in line with our clients’ requirements over the years, and we have had mixed experience with technology adoption. We needed to find a solution that was easy and intuitive to use for our teams.”

A solution to support complex and multi-disciplinary projects

Finding a single platform that delivers a clear view across sites in real-time will provide the team with greater insights into project progress and quality-related documents. “We do have other software we have used in the past that may be able to be part of a process but not all,” reflects Miles. “We are taking on ever more complex, multi-disciplinary and large-scale schemes and thus what we have used historically for our smaller projects may not be sufficiently robust for these new projects.”

Gregory Allouis, Energy Solutions Director at Bouygues E&S, joined the company 18 months ago. “I had worked with Autodesk Construction Cloud technology in the past in other roles and I liked how simple it was to navigate,” says Gregory. With experience using construction project management solutions such as PlanGrid and BIM 360, Gregory wanted to see whether introducing the portfolio to the team would help to manage risks, foster collaboration and reduce the number of non-value adding tasks the team must deal with.

Piloting the solution to test adoption

The success of technology at Bouygues E&S is measured by the adoption of it. Autodesk Build unites the two solutions Gregory previously used – taking the best of PlanGrid and BIM 360 with additional new functionality. Gregory and Miles began working together on deploying Autodesk Build on two renewable microgrid park and ride projects in Cambridge and St Ives.

These multi-disciplinary renewable energy projects had complex engineering deliverables such as solar carports, battery storage, electrical charging, lighting, civils, ground, and electrical works. This meant lots of different project stakeholders needed to come together to collaborate effectively on both the design and construction phase of the projects.

Miles reflects: “We were operating on a more primitive document exchange system on the projects initially – we weren’t just using emails alone but the system we were using was not much better. So, we partnered with the Autodesk Construction Cloud team to develop the Autodesk Build platform with the relevant folder structures and document naming conventions that we needed for the project.”

Bouygues E&S onboarded their design and project teams onto Autodesk Build with the help of their customer success team at Autodesk. This meant their consultants, supply chain partners, as well as their internal employees were given supplementary training sessions to familiarise themselves with the platform. “The training we completed was a very useful and efficient way of learning the breadth and scope of what the solution offers,” says Miles.  

A standardised approach

Inconsistencies in documentation across projects can create inefficiencies and gaps in communication and reporting. To improve documentation and standardise deliverables for their clients on these two projects, Bouygues E&S are using Autodesk Build to replace some of their client’s legacy document systems. “We’re currently not integrating the solution – instead we’re transferring the right information at the right time,” comments Miles.

“Working from a single platform that delivers a clear view across the project sites in real-time means we have greater insight into quality-related documents, and a central repository for all our information,” says Miles. For the team in the past, other document management solutions were not always adopted by teams quickly. “Autodesk Build is relatively aesthetically pleasing and intuitive compared to some of the historic systems we’ve used – they tend to be a little bit more clunky,” comments Miles. 

Being able to govern who has access to certain documents on these projects using the permission features in Autodesk Build helps Miles and his team ensure that client confidentiality is adhered to and there’s a layer of trust between all project collaborators. But going one step further and driving efficiencies through digital processes supports the project teams to communicate easily and accurately.

“My favourite feature is the design review and mark-up functionality. We assign tasks directly in the drawings to our design team members which means accountability is improved and it’s clear who must take ownership for each action,” shares Miles. In addition to this, the project teams have commented that governance has improved through a formal and clear process. “Being able to submit a design and channel it through to the correct route for peer-review and authorisation in one platform is very beneficial,” says Miles. “Time is saved instantly,” continues Miles.  

Risk mitigation and improved transparency

Providing teams with the right level of information not only creates clearer and more transparent ways of working for the team at Bouygues E&S, but it also allows the project teams to reduce the time they spend waiting for information and reduces risk when it comes to working on out-of-date or inaccurate drawings.

“Most importantly for our business, we want to ensure we’re doing everything we can to not only improve the employee experience when it comes to working on our projects, but also to improve the world around us,” shares Gregory. “Reducing our carbon emissions is a focus for both our team and our clients, and working digitally with Autodesk Build means we can reduce the amount of waste we create on sites,” continues Gregory. 

When it comes to the future, Gregory and Miles plan to expand the use of Autodesk Build with more and more of Bouygues E&S projects. But more than value for the team, Gregory is well aware of the large task ahead when it comes to looking at the construction industry’s role in the fight against climate change.

“As the largest emitter of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases in the UK, the construction industry must do more to find new and innovative ways to build better and greener,” reflects Gregory. “At Bouygues E&S, we see technology playing a huge role in driving towards net-zero goals. Giving our people in the industry, which is a limited resource pool as is, the technology to deliver on time, on budget and in the most environmentally friendly way is crucial in our business strategy,” shares Gregory.

Evolving and exploring new possibilities

Bouygues E&S is keen to explore the functionality and possibilities available to them from a technology partner like Autodesk. Gregory says: “We recently learnt about innovative technologies we could bring into our Autodesk ecosystem, like the use of drones to support reality capture against drawings. We’re keen to work with the team to understand how we can expand into using features like this.”

For Bouygues E&S, their commitment to innovation and drive to deliver better outcomes for their clients and the built environment means they are constantly pushing boundaries. Their goal is to also explore the way in which technology could allow them to conduct thermal imaging and complete temperate checks of materials being used in construction to reduce their carbon footprint.

And above all, the end goal for Bouygues E&S is to support their people who deliver projects to have access to the best tools available. “Gaining access to actionable information and data means we can generate insights to improve processes and drive continuous improvement,” reflects Miles.

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