In 2023, Dexter Southfield School’s new facility director sought a holistic review of the Brookline, Massachusetts private school’s 36-acre, 58-year-old campus. The school also wanted a virtual walkthrough of its property to use in marketing material.
A contractor Dexter Southfield had previously used put the facility director in touch with LLB Architects, which along with their partners at Pragmaticam had developed a different approach to what has traditionally been known as a “facilities audit”: a detailed review of a facility’s assets, policies, procedures, and components.
LLB and Pragmaticam sought to take the facilities audit process from its traditional roots of static, periodic updates into a future where as-built information was stored in a dynamic, continuously updatable database format accessible whenever, and wherever the information is needed.
They partnered with Existing Conditions, a GPRS company, which utilized its professional 3D laser scanning and 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) services to provide Dexter Southfield with a comprehensive interior and exterior existing conditions model, and virtual walkthrough of its 36-acre campus.
About the Project
Pragmaticam is led by former LLB Principal, Neal Bijlani, who spent nearly two decades with the architecture firm and was a key part of the team exploring a dynamic alternative to the traditional facilities audit model.
“There was an opportunity to spin that division off, and so I’m acting as principal for the Pragmaticam group and still collaborating pretty closely with LLB,” Bijlani said.
Formerly known as Lerner Lads Bartels, LLB specializes in educational institutions and research facilities in the New England area.
“We strive to do projects that are highly contextual, focused around people and are innovative in terms of detailing and integrating technology into the process,” said LLB Principal, Enno Fritsch.
LLB Architects is a longtime Existing Conditions client. That relationship has evolved over time.
“It’s only gotten better and more efficient in understanding what deliverables Existing Conditions provides, and then how we help to supplement and really craft the scope of work between our teams,” Bijlani said. “…[At Dexter Southfield], we needed to use our resources at the firm for different purposes. We needed to focus more on the design, architecture, and planning aspects of the project, and so having an independent and more experienced team in the field to do field verification just made the project be able to be on time and on budget.”
Like LLB and Pragmaticam, Existing Conditions was exploring innovative ways to document project sites and store that information so that it could be easily accessed and regularly updated.
“It’s about having their most important assets documented and setting up a system that enables us and Pragmaticam to work together to almost be their CAD and BIM department,” said GPRS/Existing Conditions Senior Account Executive for Reality Capture, Mark Catalano. “These facilities groups wear a lot of different hats, and they’re constantly making sure that these facilities are up to date. There’s a lot of maintenance and day-to-day things required with that, but something that oftentimes gets left at the wayside is making sure that their assets, the buildings, are documented properly, the changes that come with them, making sure they have the accurate drawings in a file management system format where they can ensure that they have the most accurate and up-to-date drawings of their campus.”
In the summer of 2023, Existing Conditions deployed its Project Managers to the school to 3D laser scan its 15 buildings and the surrounding grounds. The on-site work had to be completed in the relatively tight window when students were not on campus.
“It’s really important to be able to get as many of our field crew guys there at one time, so that we can really minimize the amount of time that we are on site,” explained Holly Vaillancourt, Director of Operations for GPRS and Existing Conditions’ Client Solutions Team. “I worked really closely with our Field Operations Team, and we had anywhere from one-to-five guys at the campus at any given point to get us through all of the buildings effectively and efficiently.”
Beyond having to complete the 3D laser scanning during the summer break, the Existing Conditions team also had to navigate around ongoing construction work on campus.
“A lot of campuses like to do their painting and rehab work, or renovations and updates, during those summer hours as well,” Vaillancourt said. “So, there was a little bit of a challenge in working around existing contractors being at the campus as well, but we managed and, if we had to go back and revisit a [building or room] after the renovations were complete, we certainly did do that…”
Once 3D laser scanning was complete, Existing Conditions’ in-house Processing Team compiled the data into the virtual walkthrough and other drawings & models requested by LLB Architects, Pragmaticam, and Dexter Southfield.
The school’s new facility director received a comprehensive assessment of the campus and its buildings that he needed to responsibly allocate resources for operations & maintenance (O&M). And the school received the virtual walkthrough that will allow prospective students and their families to tour the campus from anywhere in the world.
“I think the walkthrough is an example of how to leverage a deliverable,” Fritsch said. “It’s done to support the modeling, but then you can also use it so that the client can leverage it for their use and their marketing purposes. So, that’s like you get a double benefit. And of course, leveraging the data that Existing Conditions generated and merging it with the assessment work done by us and the consultants in a comprehensive database, which is then part of the deliverable for the client going forward to manage, that is how you leverage that technology going forward so it’s going to be a useful set of information for years to come. And they can update it as they go, and buildings are renovated, so it’s the basis for future improvement for years to come, rather than just having one report.
“This will change the way they manage their facility.”
How SiteMap® Aids Project Management
Existing Conditions, LLB Architects, and Pragmaticam’s vision of a living facility assessment echoes the accurate, above and belowground existing conditions documentation that GPRS offers through SiteMap® (patent pending), our facility and project management platform.
SiteMap® takes the accurate, complete, & field-verified data collected by GPRS’ SIM and NASSCO-certified Project Managers and puts it in one secure, yet easily accessible platform. From any computer, tablet, or smartphone, you and your team can plan around the same set of data points, eliminating the costly and potentially dangerous mistakes that come from miscommunications.
GPRS team members are currently scheduling live, personal SiteMap® demos. To learn how SiteMap® can help you and your next project, click below to schedule your demo today!
Frequently Asked Questions
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