JJ Mack – London’s Smartest Office Building

Creating a truly functional smart building is the dream. A holistic, symbiotic system that anticipates and responds to the needs of its users and occupants while ensuring responsibility to both fiscal and environmental sustainability.

Turning this dream into reality requires both a single-minded commitment to satisfying all these pillars at once, and an immense amount of data that is sourced, scrutinised, and structured in a way that’s accessible across domains. Working together, Helical and WSP have done just that, resulting in one of London’s smartest and most sustainable office buildings.

Location

London, United Kingdom

Client

Helical PLC

Individual assets identified & tagged in the BIM dataset

10,000+

Weeks saved thanks to modelling & visualisation

14

Square Feet of office space

200,000

The JJ Mack is a 200,000 sq/ft office building in the heart of London’s Farringdon neighbourhood. In order to achieve the client’s goals, WSP was appointed to facilitate the management of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process, and the transference of BIM information and data into a digital twin environment.

Starting with the facilities management requirements and monitoring needs of the building, WSP delivered the client-side BIM documentation that established the asset tags, data structure and BIM processes to deliver the project. This was all done in compliance with international standard ISO 19650.

Data generated through the BIM process was fundamental to meet the requirements of the digital twin

Knowing from the outset that the Helical team were committed to using digital construction from the earliest project stages meant the data set could be designed specifically for the digital twin. WSP established and led data governance and standardisation which meant the data was transferred seamlessly from the construction phase models, to an active operational twin that was connected to Wi-Fi and other IoT sensors and smart systems in the building.

While the original intent behind using digital construction was to support the development of London’s smartest office building, the reality of breaking ground on this project in 2020 meant that having the BIM models and digital twins available ensured all the project teams could limit the number of people required on-site and remain coordinated remotely, staying fully informed and maintaining project control.

This meant that despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, the building was completed within the original budget and timescales.

For example, WSP provided highly detailed 4D simulations, which allowed the client to understand how the complex MEP systems, manufactured off-site, were to be installed. Four videos detailing plant installation in the basement, riser installation, typical floor MEP installation and plant positioning on the roof allowed the contractor to understand the best install sequence.

The benefit of this approached saved fourteen weeks of the programme.

Further activity enabled by the model included the creation of a virtual environment with the Unreal Engine gaming tool, which allowed the building owner to understand and demonstrate views from the terraces to prospective tenants before the building’s completion, and while people weren’t comfortable or able to visit in-person.

Today, the operational digital twin continues to use the same dataset, empowering the users and building owners to make real-time decisions throughout everyday operations, including access control, climate control, lighting operations and lift use - all controlled via the building app.

And the continuous thread of data ensures that the record of usage and maintenance of the building can be captured and consistent for its entire life, right through to disposal of the asset.

The BIM process for JJ Mack, which won SECBE’s Digital Construction Project of the Year in 2021, continues to deliver value every day and sets the stage for what’s possible with construction data in the future.

Modern Methods of Construction

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Helping deliver London’s Smartest Office Building with Digital Construction and Data Expertise