Wednesday, July 7, 2010

India makes a statement

The Prime Minister of India and Civil Aviation Minister inaugurated the new Terminal 3 at Delhi on July 3, 2010.




A country’s first impression to any visitor is communicated through its Airports and this Delhi Airport claimed to be the 8th largest in the world is bound to create a lasting impression on the visitors.

Built in a record time of 36 months the terminal is spread across a footprint of 5.4 million sq.ft. with 78 aerobridges and 20,000 sq.mt. of retail space.

Spread over 4 km, 80 per cent of T3 is made of glass supported by metal frames. The nine-level terminal building would be used for 90 per cent of the entire passenger movement at the IGI Airport.



Around 800 Flight Information Display Systems have been used for live flight information and 8,000 speakers installed for public address system. Most modern technology has been put to use for check-in process and baggage retrieval at the new terminal, which can handle 12,800 bags in an hour.

T3 will be one of the few green airports in the world, having eco-friendly features like energy-efficient buildings, high-performance air-conditioning, use of municipal waste to generate electricity, rain water harvesting, waste-water treatment and reuse of treated water.

Designed as per the Indian Green Building Council's rating system, T3 will have a high level of green cover with landscaping of 70 acres outside and 10,000 square metres inside the building.

BIM is not a faster version of CAD

A car is not merely a faster horse—says Seth Godin.

And email is not a faster fax. And online project management is not a bigger whiteboard. And Facebook is not an electronic rolodex. Play a new game, not the older game but faster.

The context—“BIM is not a faster version of CAD nor is it a faster way to make 3-D models.” Moving to BIM is a business and strategic decision. It is less about a CAD upgrade and more about a business decision by owners who know that BIM will have an impact on their firms at all levels.

Recent status report published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) highlighted that out of the 951 projects being monitored 309 projects have cost overruns and 474 projects are behind schedule. “Of the total reported cost increase of Rs. 55,914 crore, Rs. 37,694 crore is on 466 delayed projects. These delays can be removed simply by adhering to international best practices which may be caused due to Lack of Coordination among the members of design team, the absence of an integrated approach to design and construction and the lack of uniformity in construction documentation practices.

BIM is emerging as an innovative way to manage projects. Building performance and predictability of outcomes are greatly improved by adopting BIM. In a single line BIM is an emerging technological, procedural & strategic approach for the AEC industry