“We are pleased with the successful introduction

of smart construction technologies”

Woo Myung-joo, Senior Manager of the Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Center at Yonsei University project site

Oh Se-young, Manager of the Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Center at Yonsei University project site

Kim Hyun-jung, Senior Manager of the Building Smart Construction Team

Yang Woo-seok, Manager of the Building Smart Construction Team

Please introduce yourself to readers of “Construction Sites and People.”

Woo Hello! I’m Woo Myung-joo. I was assigned to the Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Center at Yonsei University project site in February 2020. Since then, I’ve been in charge of reviewing and suggesting equipment technology and managing quality as Senior Manager. Almost three decades have passed since I started to do equipment-related works in 1991.

Kim How are you all doing? I’m Manager Kim Hyun-jung. Since I joined the Structural Design Team in 2014, I’ve worked on BIM. Currently, I am responsible for planning and supporting for bidding and construction sites with regard to BIM at the Building Smart Construction Team.

Oh Glad to meet you all via messenger. I’m Manager Oh Se-young. I was assigned to the Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Center at Yonsei University project site in February 2019. I’m in charge for managing electricity, communication and fire extinguishing system.

Yang Hello. I’m Manager Yang Woo-seok. I am working on planning, supporting, developing technologies and verifying their effectiveness in relation to BIM at the Building Smart Construction Team. Previously, I studied BIM-based smart construction technologies in the Research and Development Division.

Hyundai E&C’s technologies are intensively utilized to construct the Heavy Ion Cancer Therapy Center at Yonsei University which is expected to drastically increase the success rate of cancer treatment. Among them, could you talk more about BIM and smart construction technologies?

Woo The project site aims to install and operate a heavy-ion accelerator, which is a mega-sized medical device. This seems similar to a plant construction site. It is important to understand the medical equipment and be well-informed of relevant requirements. Construction of medical facilities is involved in more complex designs of electricity and firefighting, compared to general buildings. We made full use of BIM programs for accurate construction, which was of great help in actuality.

Kim The Invitation for Bid requested BIM for the design confirmation, but the application of BIM later expanded to include the simulations of all construction procedures and the MEP coordination at the early stage of the construction. The client appeared to be already aware of the efficiency of BIM from their experience of BIM-applied simulations, which made it possible to communicate more swiftly. When a construction site or a design company has BIM drawings at the design stage, they can be used as a BIM model for construction after going through reviews and modifications. They are remodeled in the case that they do not match the final drawings or many changes are made in the initial design. In this project, we had to consider how our construction would be connected to the follow-up process for Toshiba.

Oh It was crucial to locate electricity and other equipment such as cable trays, ducts and pipes for fire extinguishing agents to ensure that they could be installed in the limited space without interferences. We paid more attention to get rid of any possibilities for Toshiba to reconstruct because the purpose of this project lies in the development of the infrastructure to install the heavy-ion accelerator. To do this, we informed errors in Toshiba’s design specifications and then came up with revisions. While going through such several processes, we discussed a lot with them, based on detailed verifications.

Woo According to the design, some locations of pipes installed by Hyundai E&C failed to be connected to those of Toshiba. Since such errors were hard to identify on the drawings, the visualization of the drawings with BIM was effective in consultation with Toshiba. BIM played a big role in improving constructability and increasing construction quality. Let me take an example. We let cold water run to decrease the temperature of heat generated from the heavy-ion accelerator. After the purification of general water, the resulting purified water is provided through the clean pipes for medical devices. Any delays in the installation of the clean pipes at the construction site can lead to their contamination. However, we could prevent the pipes from being contaminated because we started to build them as soon as we completed the joint design by using BIM. We put trust in the precision of BIM, which worked well at this project site.

Yang A key to securing construction quality is to confirm whether the construction is conducted in accordance with the design. To this end, we utilized the laser scanning technology to transform pre- and post-construction situations into three dimensional data and compare it with the existing BIM designs. If errors are found out, we can use accurate date to detect which parts go wrong and how serious the problems are, enabling us to perform the construction in a precise manner.

Oh A smart construction technology was applied for the foundation works as well, as far as I know.

Yang Yes, it was the smart concrete curing system. Sensors installed to mass concrete can estimate concrete strength in real time, enabling the timely removal from a mold when the strength reaches an appropriate level. Previously, we had to make trial objects, but it was difficult to exactly tell when to demold because they were different from the actual mass concrete and its conditions. This smart system could overcome such shortcomings and thus reduce the construction period.

There might be some difficulties in using the technologies still in the development stage.

Woo When actually used families including valves, manometers and thermometers have yet to be determined, BIM drawings are made based on the specifications of representative products. We often modified them after on-site measurements. This was unavoidable when manufacturers’ conditions are taken into account. We had to promptly respond to such situations.

Kim BIM availability can increase only when libraries of product models are given by each manufacturer. However, only a few domestic manufacturers have a capability to offer such information. This issue will be able to be solved as BIM technology solidifies its position in the industry over time. During the process where 2D designs are converted into BIM drawings, we often face inevitable errors, delaying the construction schedule. To decrease such issues, we are striving to make drawings three-dimensional by directly designing with BIM.

Oh The use of BIM technologies increased the construction efficiency, compared to 2D drawings. I believe that improvements can be made in construction sites if 3D drawings take root, though this will take some time.

Yang It is time for all of us to make efforts to use BIM and smart construction technologies. I hope all our employees accumulate relevant experience and apply all kinds of smart construction technologies in the near future.

You have all succeeded in applying smart construction technologies to the challenging project. What would you like to say to each other?

Kim We could bear fruit because all the colleagues at the project site reviewed and made full use of BIM technologies with an open-minded attitude. I feel rewarded when those who have experience in BIM set out to ask on me to help them to utilize the technology in the next construction site. I would like to appreciate you all for making another success story about smart construction technologies. I will actively support in the future.

Woo I always appreciate for technological supports we have had. I had difficult time in understanding this unfamiliar equipment. However, thanks to you all, great achievements were made in identifying the medical device and communicating with the client and Toshiba.

Oh Although the construction conditions were extremely complicated and many changes were made, I realized that there was no impossible work to do. During the cooperation process, we found out errors in Toshiba’s designs and verified them, which enabled us to gain greater trust from the client.

Yang I heard that you all suffer from the challenging construction procedure and collaboration with the foreign company. I will devote my efforts to improving the efficiency and safety of the construction site.