Momentum builds for Leapfrog Works with industry recognition

Momentum builds for Leapfrog Works with industry recognition

Seequent and Mott MacDonald named Digital Transformation Initiative of the year finalist in British Construction Industry Awards; follows shortlisting in Ground Engineering Awards.

CHRISTCHURCH, NZ – 13 June, 2018 – Seequent, a world leader in visual data science, and Mott MacDonald have been shortlisted in the British Construction Industry Awards for Digital Initiative of the Year. Innovating together the companies delivered a digital, 3D geological modelling solution on the Upper Chelburn Impounding Reservoir in the UK,which is owned and operated by United Utilities.

Seequent’s General Manager of Civil and Environmental Daniel Wallace, says: “We’re delighted to be recognised for digital transformation alongside Mott MacDonald in these prestigious awards. Our collective goal from the outset was to transform the shape of ground and civil engineering. This is the second industry acknowledgement in as many months as we were also shortlisted for the Technical Innovation Award in this year’s Ground Engineering Awards.”

Seequent developed Leapfrog Works, a 3D subsurface modelling solution specifically designed for the Civil Engineering and Environmental industries, to better connect the geology to the engineering design and support the cultural shift towards digitisation and collaborative working.

Launched in February, Leapfrog Works improves the understanding, visualisation and communication of ground conditions in infrastructure and groundwater projects to help clients reduce risk and keep projects on time and on budget. The revolutionary solution has caught the attention of the civil engineering, ground engineering and environmental industries and is gathering momentum with strong user uptake.

Upper Chelburn Reservoir model

“Leapfrog Works transforms the way engineers and geotechnical engineers work on projects to deliver better project outcomes for clients,” says Wallace. “In many ways ‘digital transformation’ can be as much about organisational transformation, as it’s the impact it has on the individuals that do the work.”

Leapfrog Works has been adopted business-wide by Mott MacDonald’s global geotechnics practice. The company has used the software on a wide range of projects to pioneer a new way of working in the industry, including major global tunnelling, construction and transportation projects, reservoirs, rock cavern networks in Singapore, and 3D visualisations of a proposed airport in Indonesia.

Mott MacDonald’s geotechnics global practice leader Tony O’Brien, says: “We’re very proud of the role we’ve played in terms of digital transformation in the industry, by having early input into the development of Leapfrog Works.

“By embracing this digital transformation as an organisation we’ve increased our ability to communicate geotechnical challenges on projects, such as the Upper Chelburn Impounding Reservoir, to a wide range of stakeholders and as a result have seen improved project outcomes for our clients such as United Utilities.”

Leapfrog Works, built on the trusted Leapfrog 3D implicit modelling engine which Seequent has used in software products for other industries for over 15 years, interfaces and exchanges information with diverse digital design and Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital geotechnical database platforms. The optional hydrogeology solution kit also integrates with flow simulation packages.

O’Brien says, “Leapfrog’s 3D geological models allow our project teams to thoroughly interrogate ground data from a variety of sources and field observations. By interrogating data sources in this way and applying our geotechnical expertise, we have achieved more efficient design solutions with higher levels of confidence.

“The outcome on projects, such as Chelburn, that we have used Leapfrog on was targeted investigation, design, remedial and temporary works solutions. Leapfrog has resulted in substantial reductions in the time needed to produce ground models, with associated cost savings compared to traditional approaches. One project resulted in an estimated 15% cost savings, site wastage reduced to <1% and associated reductions in carbon footprint.”

The winners of the British Construction Industry Awards, the most prestigious awards in the built environment sector, will be announced on 10 October in London.

ENDS

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