Project overview
As an owner of a large number of assets, the University of Sydney has always been committed to facilities management.
Around five years ago, with many of those assets approaching and surpassing 50 years old, they realised a need for better remediation and risk management and began our journey into more strategic asset management.
Martin Ayres, Head of Strategic Asset Management at University of Sydney says:
Faced with some potentially serious lifecycle issues in the building fabric, as well as the effects of significant weather events over the last few years, we set out on a mission to create an inspection program to document defects and areas requiring repair or restoration.
We took a considered approach to the program, looking to equip ourselves with the right tools and partners to do the job most effectively now, and in the future.
Piloting several technology solutions over 12–18 months, as well as the traditional abseiling and photography method, together with expert consultants, we identified Trendspek as our solution of choice and presented our recommendations to the executive.
Though we tried some other options with concepts similar to Trendspek, we landed on it because we could mark-up the model and share access to the platform with others, and it gave us the ability to capture change over time really comprehensively.
This fed nicely into our shift from a reactive to a more proactive asset management approach.
Services
Precision Reality Twins (PRT), Precision Asset Intelligence (PAI), Data Acquisition (Drones), Reporting and Project Management.
Project team
Key outcomes
100+
Buildings in 15 months
vs. several months, or years, of manual capture with site shutdowns
375k+
Images processed
vs. traditional photo reports of up to 50
90%+
Facade coverage
vs. 20-30% via manual spot inspection
Interactive
High-res model output
vs. the traditional output of photos and report
Safety
Low risk
vs. manual high-risk rope or crane bucket inspection
Multi-use
Data for specs and planning
3D model data exported for accurate specs, shared with contractors for remediation planning
How did the University of Sydney first start working with Trendspek?
We had some significant rain events in 2019/2020, that resulted in some really serious damage to internal spaces within the university buildings. Based on that, we set out on a mission to build an inspection program.
We went out and did a few pilots around different systems and technology solutions in tandem with standard traditional methods, such as hanging a person off the building taking photos, with a pen and paper report.
Over the course of 12-18 months in this discovery phase, we came up with a few options to present with some associated budgets to see what we could do, and what timeframes we could do it in. That was the path to choosing Trendspek’s technology solution.
We did try other platforms, one that took drone footage and stitched them into 3D models, and another that was more photo-based.
But we chose Trendspek as it was pretty intuitive and easy-to-use, as well as its ability to enable markups and simplified sharing with contractors.
We also see the potential that Trendspek has over its competitors with its ability to capture and monitor changes over time, and some of its other add-ons such as Surface Deflection heat mapping.
Why deviate from using traditional methods of inspection, such as rope access and photographs?
While we had done some inspection before, it was more spot inspection, as opposed to 80–90% coverage of the asset facade, and the ropes approach we employed was nowhere near as efficient as drone capture and 3D modeling.
We can have 80,000 people here a day, from staff to students, so there is a lot of risk that we need to manage. This tool is helping us with that.
Effectively, with Trendspek, we have documented evidence of the whole fabric of the assets – we have more data and better geolocated data, so we can now make more informed decisions to reduce future risk.
What was the speed of adoption for learning to use Trendspek?
Trendspek is very easy to use. Most of us didn’t need to do any of the tutorials that are provided; we just logged in and had a go.
We had access to support from the Trendspek team, and the CEO, Derek, would also personally take our calls, respond to us quickly and help answer any questions we had.
The University of Sydney’s delivery team had regular meetings with our Trendspek project team to get guidance, discuss any issues or challenges, and monitor timelines. We’ve also developed an issues register, which is a shared thing between us and Trendspek.
It’s been a collaborative approach that we’ve identified things that we think should be on the platform that aren’t currently there.
Overall, Trendspek provided a really transparent and collaborative process, and they were also very open to suggestions of possible future features.
“With Trendspek we have documented evidence of the whole fabric of the assets. We now have more data, and better geolocated data, so we can make more informed decisions to reduce future risk.”
Martin Ayres
HEAD OF STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT
Were you happy with Trendspek’s 3D asset modeling?
We broke the project up into phases, and over 15 months we captured more than 100 buildings that had never been fully inspected before. There’s still a few to go. We sit in CASA airspace with major arterial roads surrounding us, so it’s a complex process.
Everyone involved with and exposed to the Trendspek project was quite impressed by the quality that was delivered. It’s a very useful tool, we just need to ensure that we keep it up-to-date to protect that “moment in time” aspect.
Different buildings are going to need to be inspected at different intervals due to their age, condition, heritage status and other factors, and the data we’ve captured will help guide that program of ongoing work.
Some assets will be recaptured and inspected as often as each year, while others can be inspected every five or even 10 years.
“Over 15 months we captured more than 100 buildings that had never been fully inspected before. Everyone involved with and exposed to the project was impressed by the quality that was delivered. We found Trendspek a very useful tool and now we need to focus on keeping up those captures.”
Martin Ayres
HEAD OF STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT
How will Trendspek influence your future asset management strategy?
We are really committed to a more proactive approach, and Trendspek helps inform it.
Off the back of the capture, modeling and inspection, we’ve engaged a consultant to develop our very first strategic asset management plan, with full endorsement from our executive – something we haven’t been able to get in the past, as we didn’t have the information and insights to build our case.
We will also now develop an asset management policy for the University, as well as a roadmap and lifecycle program, and deliver capital projections well into the future – we’re aiming for 25 years – all guided by the detailed data now available to us.
Our thinking has changed, our executive’s thinking has changed, and we are looking to more broadly change the thinking around this space so we can take this to the next level.
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