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Challenge
Anlegg Øst Entreprenør (AØE) is a leading Norwegian general contractor with a turnover exceeding €150 million and around 400 employees. The company is part of the Nordic Eleda Group, which is a >€2 billion Nordic construction conglomerate. AØE has experienced steady growth over the years, gradually taking on larger and more complex projects. As a result, the need for Building Information Modeling (BIM) and model-based project execution, without relying on traditional drawings, has increased significantly. Project owners increasingly expect BIM to be used already during the bidding phase, for example, by providing access to design models, owners are expecting general contractors to perform takeoffs directly from the BIM model when pricing the project. Furthermore, the BIM execution plan and selected tools have become key criteria in contractor evaluation and selection. To meet these evolving demands, AØE tested various tools in search of a standardized BIM platform suitable for use across all projects. This platform needed to support the largest and most complex BIM projects, including handling massive files and accommodating advanced project requirements.
Solution
After evaluating the market and piloting various BIM tools across different projects, AØE selected Novorender as their primary 3D viewer and BIM platform. The choice was driven by several key advantages Novorender offered:
- Superior 3D performance compared to competitors, particularly when handling the largest and most complex BIM models
- User-friendly mobile experience, enabling effective BIM adoption among construction workers on-site—crucial for successful model-based project execution.
- Essential BIM workflow features, including Groups for categorization, Bookmarks for seamless sharing, and Follow Path and Cross Sections to enhance project understanding through combined 2D and 3D visualization
- Licensing: Novorender’s licensing model charges based on data and service consumption and, in particular, not per user. This helps facilitate sharing, collaboration, and adoption in projects.
“We use Novorender to federate all BIM models we receive from design engineers, including all design disciplines, existing infrastructure, and situation. It enables us to bring the BIM model easily into the field.”
Erik Lade Øvergård, BIM Manager Anlegg Øst Entreprenør
AØE uses Novorender to federate BIM models from all design disciplines, including existing infrastructure and site conditions, into a single, accessible platform. This enables both office and field workers to interact with the same up-to-date model, streamlining planning, quality control, and execution. As an example, pipefitters in the field use Novorender to check slopes, dimensions, materials, and installation sequences directly on mobile devices. This eliminates the need to navigate complex drawing sets.
Results
Anlegg Øst Entreprenør has used Novorender on more than 20 projects, starting already from the tendering phase where the software has supported visualization and collaboration on the design and foundational BIM model made available by the owner as part of the BIM. Novorender has been an integral part of the BIM approach in project bids to meet the requirements of owners to execute projects model-based, minimize drawings, and provide a Project Information Model (PIM ref. ISO 19650) with a BIM viewer.
For AØE Novorender enhances collaboration, reduces errors, and supports efficient model-based workflows across all project phases. Furthermore, Novorender has been used in the tendering phase of numerous projects and contributed to winning no less than 4 projects last year, with a combined contract value of >200 mEUR. This includes projects with leading national infrastructure owners such for both rail, road, and power grids.
“Novorender leads to fewer errors and costly rework because it ensures everyone in the project has up-to-date BIM models readily and easily available”
Erik Lade Øvergård, BIM Manager Anlegg Øst Entreprenør
