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Thursday, September 16, 2021

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THE THREAT FROM BELOW

September 1, 2021
826
Photo: McCarthy

By Matthew Fitzgerald 

Every owner, designer, and construction professional has been there at some
point in their career – subsurface utility unknowns causing injuries, schedule
delays, budget concerns, design updates, and unhappy customers. Plagued by
inaccurate and unreliable utility records and as-builts, the design and
construction industry continue to see the negative impacts of underground
unknowns. 

Imagine hitting a gas main next to a school or cutting off the oxygen to a
hospital’s intensive care unit. What if a hidden set of trolley tracks suddenly
derails your building schedule? Or you dig up a decades-old fuel tank that was
long forgotten — until you were unfortunate enough to find it, right in the
middle of your jobsite?

It happens. In fact, it’s common. Using McCarthy’ Subsurface Utility Mapping
(SUM), we find issues every single time we create a map of what’s underground at
a construction site. And yet, in our experience, about 90 percent of all
construction projects don’t include comprehensive subsurface mapping before
excavation.

In failing to accurately locate subsurface utilities, owners, contractors, and
facility operations at risk. The financial impact alone can be substantial as
underground unknowns typically lead to an 18 percent change order rate on
complex civil site project contracts. Hidden utilities and other threats from
below are ticking time bombs waiting to cost time and money as sites are being
prepared for building. By using complete, accurate, color-coded and extremely
detailed maps and models, subsurface mapping creates a full picture of what may
be lurking underground. 

Where is the Value?

According to the Purdue University Department of Building Construction
Management – for every $1 spent on mapping at this level of detail, owners can
save an average of $4.62 in cost avoidance for their project. Beyond the
potential cost savings of finding an issue after a project has begun, having the
knowledge of what lies beneath pays in dividends.

 1. Safety – Recognize greater safety measures as project teams implement and
    communicate the investigation results to those directly involved in the
    construction
 2. Budget – Provide cost-certainty earlier during design and preconstruction
    phases, as mapping results give clearer vision for civil operations
 3. Design – Provide greater confidence in civil design aspects such as proposed
    utility routing and profiles, site grading, existing utility shut-offs,
    utility tie-ins, foundation locations, and building layouts
 4. Schedule – Give greater clarity on real durations for civil construction
    operations due to increased accuracy of overall civil design, allowing owner
    to plan and communicate more effectively with campus members
 5. Operations – Protect the customer experience for a passenger, student,
    patient, or tenant based on greater confidence and planning of surrounding
    construction operations

Photo: McCarthy

SUM is most valuable when considering a new project with these attributes:

 1. An operating campus
 2. An aging campus with decades of compounded infrastructure
 3. Dense urban areas with complicated site work
 4. When building adjacent to high-risk utilities such as oxygen or gas

However, it is being made clear that any project can utilize a SUM customized
approach that properly addresses the underground risk present. One project may
need detailed sewer reports, while the next needs surface features only. One
project may need detailed conduit information and butterfly diagrams, while the
next is only concerned with horizontal alignments. One project wants to
coordinate their site logistics in three-dimensions, while the next prefers
two-dimensional. The question is not whether a project needs SUM, but rather the
approach that best meets the needs for the construction team, the client, and
the budget.

Synergistic Technologies

Some owners might turn to a private utility locating company to mark underground
lines. The fact is that private locating companies typically don’t dig deeply
enough — both literally and figuratively — to identify all the dangers to
projects and workers. 

Unfortunately, there is not a utility-locating technology that yields accurate
results for all encountered utilities. To effectively mitigate the risk facing a
project, while knowing and clearly communicating the limitations of certain
equipment, Utility Designators require several different surface-level
technologies. McCarthy utilizes the following technologies to designate existing
utilities:

 1.  Electromagnetic Utility Locators – used as our primary method for locating
     utilities. This technology allows us to hook directly to the utility and
     provides location, GPS tracking and approximate depths.
 2.  Ground Penetrating Radar – the Stream C is used for a compact array
     solution, generating real time 3D mapping of underground utilities. This
     technology has 34 antennas in two polarizations and can produce GIS based
     digital maps when exported. Also, MALA technology is utilized for sites of
     all sizes to investigate voids, buried structures, and other underground
     utilities.
 3.  3D Printing – allows our team to create models of existing infrastructure
     to implement into three-dimensional models of proposed buildings throughout
     a campus. This process gives invaluable viewpoints into a proposed
     project’s area of influence and possible areas of concern.
 4.  Laser Scanning – used to aid in the 3D modeling of certain areas of a
     campus or internal building. The gathered point cloud is used to determine
     exact dimensions for critical areas of a project’s design and construction.
 5.  Colorized LiDar Scanning – is typically flown with a drone and provides
     high-density colorized point clouds that can be seamlessly merged with our
     3D model of existing utilities.
 6.  CCTV Truck Video Cameras – are used to capture video footage and condition
     assessment reports for pipes of all sizes. The truck also has a lateral
     launch capability, allowing our team to view and inspect building lateral
     connections.
 7.  Concrete Scanning – allows us to locate items below concrete slabs such as
     conduits, rebar, PT Cables, pipes, etc. This tool can have multiple
     applications, especially in the renovation setting or during the
     preconstruction phase of a job.
 8.  Infrared Energy Pattern Analysis – can be used manually or mounted to a
     drone or plane. It uses sensors to determine drastic changes of
     temperature, which shows locations and alignments of utilities such as
     chilled water and steam.
 9.  Acoustic Pipe Locator – sends and receives waves throughout the soil and
     exports data for objects found below the surface. The technology proves to
     be valuable in situations with plastic material with no tracer wire.
 10. Drones – are used for project inspections, high-definition photos, LiDar
     scanning, site topography and infrared scanning.
 11. 360° Reality Capture – is used to provide 360-degree site walks throughout
     an area, as well as side-by-side views between the real world and 3D model
     at any desired location.

The days of shuffling through hundreds and thousands of utility records and
relying on the institutional knowledge of one person no longer satisfy the
fast-paced nature of the AEC industry. Using electromagnetic utility locators,
ground penetrating radar, hydro excavation, CCTV truck, acoustic pipe locators
and infrared energy pattern analysis, SUM, when paired with a construction
team’s expertise, helps clients build confidently. The AEC industry now thrives
on data transfer, cloud platforms, and virtual building, making now a critical
time for owners and campus staff shift the mindset of “the way we have always
done it.” Implementing a risk mitigation strategy that ensures zero-loss of data
across all stakeholders is becoming paramount. 

Moving in this direction yields a greater ability to impact early planning,
design, construction, and facilities management operations. Decision making
becomes more impactful. Leadership becomes more aligned. Budgeting and planning
become more accurate and reliable. And this can all be attributed to a single
source of truth surrounding existing utility data.

How will you and your team manage The Threat from Below?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matthew Fitzgerald is a registered professional engineer and senior business
development manager for McCarthy Building Companies. In addition to supporting
McCarthy project needs, Matthew is focused on developing relationships and
project opportunities with current and potential clients across the country.

 * TAGS
 * 360° Reality Capture
 * 3D printing
 * Acoustic Pipe Locator
 * as-builts
 * budget
 * CCTV Truck Video Cameras
 * Colorized LiDar Scanning
 * Concrete Scanning
 * CS0921
 * design
 * drones
 * Electromagnetic Utility Locators
 * ground penetrating radar
 * Infrared Energy Pattern Analysis
 * laser scanning
 * Matthew Fitzgerald
 * McCarthy
 * McCarthy Building Companies
 * operations
 * Purdue University Department of Building Construction Management
 * safety
 * schedule
 * Subsurface Utility Mapping
 * SUM
 * Synergistic Technologies
 * VALUE

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