RESHAPING TRADITIONAL CONSTRUCTION 

In Pantin, a suburb at the gateway of Paris, the local Art Deco Leclerc swimming pool has been transformed into a modern, dual-purpose facility for art and sports. The extensive renovation involved restoring the original swimming pool and constructing a new conservatory, made up of a large auditorium and music room, looking out to a landscaped garden. This project has been a critical pilot for Bouygues Construction’s wider digital transformation strategy. The company used the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to try out new working methods and improve collaboration across the value chain. 

“Our current ways of working have been unchanged for several years,” said Guilhem Bourgoin, Works Supervisor at Bouygues Construction and responsible for the Pantin site. “The whole point of the experiment with Pantin was to look at how, through the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, we could improve the way we traditionally work using paper, wall displays, highlighting, while structuring more efficiently our processes through digitisation.” 

For the sake of its own business and the future of the industry, Bouygues Construction committed to a radical evolution of its construction approach.

“The construction sector is one of the least digitised sectors and productivity has stagnated in recent years,” said Frédéric Gal, Programme Director of Business Transformation at Bouygues Construction. “We want to be proactive and deploy digital technology to transform our activity.” 

Bouygues Construction partnered with Dassault Systèmes with the ambition of building the next generation of solutions that will address the construction industry’s key challenges and support customisation at scale. 

SUPPORTING SUSTAINABILITY GOALS

Bouygues Construction is using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud, taking advantage of CATIA, ENOVIA and DELMIA applications, to break down ecosystem silos and develop a project-centric approach. To ensure success, Bouygues Construction and Dassault Systèmes work within a value engagement framework, the consultative approach designed to qualify measurable business values and outcomes together. Their common objective is to transform the entire construction ecosystem, allowing all stakeholders to benefit from virtual twin and collaboration technologies. 

“Bouygues Construction has made a commitment to reduce its carbon emissions by 40% by 2030,” Gal said. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform will help us to meet this objective by making it easier to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. We are in the business of designing low-carbon buildings. The platform will help us a lot in terms of traceability, optimising materials and enhancing the layouts of different elements to reduce waste, and calculating our climate change impact and improving it.”

CONNECTING THE DOTS ON THE CLOUD

By bringing all data and information together in one place with ENOVIA, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is helping to break down communication barriers, identify potential construction issues and delays, and address them before they become bigger issues on site. 

“The platform brings together all stakeholders around a single source of truth,” Gal said. “The data is entered only once and all the actors can access it, easily find the files they need and visualise this data with respect to their specific role in the company. This is extremely valuable to us.”

FROM BIM TO VIRTUAL TWIN

Instead of digitising all its processes straight away, Bouygues Construction adopted a twofold approach with Dassault Systèmes. The first step involved deploying project-centric and collaborative working methods. The second step relies on implementing innovative industry practices to reveal productivity gains and address additional complexities brought about by sustainability regulations. This involves taking building information modeling (BIM) a step further using a construction virtual twin approach. Doing this will enable the company to connect programme and regulator specifications to the virtual construction twin and virtually test purchasing, logistics and construction assembly to drive end-to-end efficiencies across projects. 

“The objective of the virtual twin is to deliver on the promise of construction before construction,” Gal said. “It means we can adjust all the irregularities that we imagine and to have a model that is really constructible and to avoid mistakes when we are on site. Once the design is finished and executed, questions are no longer raised about its integrity.”

A LONG-TERM STRATEGY

Ultimately, the 3DEXPERIENCE platform is helping Bouygues Construction to redefine its future and the modus operandi of the industry. By connecting all stakeholders across the value chain, the company is empowered to take on even more complex and ambitious projects. 

“All data related to a construction project, from the design to the execution phase, to the operation and maintenance of the building will be located in the platform, enabling invaluable digital continuity,” Gal said. 

The project’s success comes down to Bouygues Construction and Dassault Systèmes’ engagement to making technology work for the people who use it. 

“The platform allows us to meet our goals in terms of modernising the business, while being able to support our clients on projects that are both unique and increasingly complex,” Godinot said. “It’s up to everyone to seize this opportunity, measure the benefits and make this project a success for Bouygues Construction and its customers.”

Would you like to learn more about how the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform can support your Digital Transformation? Get in touch with our team today.