Addressing Challenges
Led by the Rocky Mountain Region Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) team with support from Diverge, a Hensel Phelps company, the initiative pilots Unreal Engine, a real-time 3D development platform, to create interactive environments that help project teams better understand existing conditions before construction begins.
Key Takeaways
Addressing Aging Infrastructure: Municipal water and wastewater systems present significant challenges due to deteriorating underground infrastructure, incomplete utility records and the need to maintain uninterrupted operations during rehabilitation.
Immersive Project Visualization: By combining Building Information Modeling (BIM), LiDAR reality capture scans and Unreal Engine, project teams can explore facilities in a fully interactive environment, improving communication, constructability reviews and decision-making before work reaches the field.
Improved Coordination: The technology helps owners, designers and builders identify potential conflicts early, evaluate construction sequencing and better understand how new systems will integrate with existing infrastructure.
Real-World Application: At the Windsor Wastewater Treatment Facility, Hensel Phelps overlaid LiDAR scans with BIM models to gain a more accurate understanding of constrained underground conditions, strengthening coordination and reducing uncertainty before construction.
Supporting Existing VDC Workflows: Rather than replacing current VDC tools, Unreal Engine enhances established capabilities such as constructability reviews, 4D planning, digital coordination and owner engagement through more immersive visualization experiences.
Why It Matters
The pilot demonstrates how gaming technology can be adapted for construction planning, allowing project teams to make more informed decisions, reduce project risk and improve collaboration on highly constrained water infrastructure projects. As investment in resilient water and wastewater systems continues to grow, Hensel Phelps is evaluating immersive visualization as another tool to support safer, more coordinated and efficient project delivery.