The Project

Situated in Essex green belt, the Ramsden Hall project was a comprehensive refurbishment and expansion aimed at transforming a 3 storey residential block for students, and creating a new teaching block, seven new classrooms and time out/withdrawal rooms, a learning resource area, plus an assembly hall, dining hall, conference room and four therapy rooms for SEN pupils.

The location of the project involved some significant steps to ensure the preservation of local nature and wildlife and the contractor worked closely with ecologists carrying out extensive surveys and an archaeological dig where appropriate.

The Challenge

Construction requirements – To provide accurate validated Hand Over Information including health & safety file, O&M manuals, building logbook and BREEAM building user guide.

Information had to be structured, easy to find and updateable.

Operational requirements – As well as the standard handover information, the project had a COBie deliverable requirement, which enabled the end user to integrate their data with other data platforms.

How we did it

Process – EDocuments successfully managed the collation process throughout the project. By managing the supply chain, EDocuments were able to onboard sub-contractors ensuring they understood what level of information they had to provide.

Software – By working closely with the design team and digital engineers, EDocuments were able to ensure that the documents and equipment schedules where correctly set up at the start of the project, therefore facilitating the supply chain in providing the required data.

The built in validation tools on the platform made it simple for anyone on the project team to get an accurate up to date report at any time of exactly what information had been provided. This information is downloadable and shareable making collaborative working easier.

Key Outcomes and Lessons Learnt

EDocuments Project Manager, Les Bowring, said: “Working with the principal contract's design team, and spending the time getting the COBie requirements, made the project run much smoother when it came to reporting. With the information correctly tagged, it was easy to link the O&M information to the as-built models”.