"It gave us the ability to capture change over time really comprehensively."
With over 100 buildings across its Camperdown campus, the University of Sydney leverage Trendspek to gain deeper insights into complex building fabrics and implement a digital-first, strategic asset management plan.
As an owner of a large number of assets, the University of Sydney has always been committed to facilities management.
Around 5 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 the University of Sydney has spearheaded a shift to a digital solution.
"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 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."
“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
University of Sydney
80-90% asset coverage across campus, covering a mixed-age portfolio of new and heritage-listed assets
Minimised campus disruption using safe, scalable aerial drone capture
Better CAPEX forecasting using accurate source of data
Multipurpose, verifiable digital records for tendering, specifications
Shareable 3D models allow for an improved system of engagement.
Contractors can be provided with important spatial context ahead of projects.
"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.
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 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 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.
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.
“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 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.
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.
In addition to better managing risk, the feedback from the project team was that they found the quality "impressive", and the platform easy to use.
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.
The University of Sydney’s delivery team also had regular meetings with Trendspek to receive guidance, develop an issues registrar, and monitor timelines.
Overall, Trendspek provided a really transparent and collaborative process, and they were also very open to suggestions of possible future features."
"We're developing 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."
"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.
This is 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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"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."
Martin Ayres
Head of Strategic Asset Management
University of Sydney
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