The LiRo Virtual Design, Construction and Operations (VDC/O) Team won second place at the AEC Excellence Awards, announced on November 14th at the Autodesk University (AU) Conference in Las Vegas. LiRo entered under the Infrastructure category for its expansive BIM effort on East Side Access — a $12 billion mega project that will link LIRR trains to a new Grand Central Concourse by 6 miles of tunnels and via the busiest interlocking in North America.

The renowned competition saw over a hundred BIM project submissions from around the world, and was juried by several highly-regarded members of the AEC BIM community. The AU conference at which the awards were announced has 10,000 global attendees. Lennart Andersson, Associate Vice President, was in Las Vegas to receive the prestigious award, along with three members of his VDC/O team: Cheryle Cranbourne, Aditi Patel and David Wu.

In addition to the AEC Excellence award, the team was involved in several other events at the conference: Discussions, a panel, a “TED-Style” talk, and furthermore, showcased at the Future of Making Things interactive exhibition. The LiRo exhibit was listed in AU materials as a “must see” for its vision for how infrastructure projects are to be visualized and communicated now and in the future. The exhibit conveyed how 3D data models connect with people and processes through the use of interactive documentation, virtual reality, and mixed reality tools.

The East Side Access project is expected to be complete in by 2022. Thus far, LiRo VDC/O has modeled the project in its entirety, and is using the massive BIM to create visualizations, coordinate laser scans for better as-built survey documentation, and enhance construction tracking and logistics workflows as well as asset management processes.

Other awardees for infrastructure went to Foster + Partners and FR-EE for Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico (NAICM), and Norconsult AS for Arna-Bergen, Ulriken Tunnel.