Posts from "Company news" category

Global BIM Survey: Norway is a leader and continues advancing

Drawing on the expertise of our partners around the world, AGACAD is currently examining the specific situation of BIM use in different countries.

Here we look at Norway with the help of Knut Sandvik, a construction engineer and IT professional with three decades of experience who works at Focus Software AS, Norway’s top provider of BIM solutions. Knut also teaches BIM at the university level.

Early adopter

Norway today is one of the world’s most advanced countries in BIM implementation. One reason is how early the government got involved in promoting digital construction. Statsbygg, the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property, ran a BIM pilot project in 2005, published a BIM manual in 2008, and began requiring BIM use in public projects already in 2010.

“Finland was the first to have a government BIM mandate and then Norway and some other countries were second,” Knut Sandvik says. “The Norwegian state has been requiring the use of BIM for over a decade now, so everyone involved in big projects – hospitals, airports, operas and the like – has been doing BIM to one degree or another for quite some time now.”

Besides that top-down encouragement, Norway has also seen grassroots movement to BIM among designers, owners and builders. Sandvik says BIM adoption, while far from universal, is extensive and continues increasing: “You have all kinds of approaches to BIM, how to use it and how much, even when it’s not required. Almost everybody now uses BIM modelling tools – maybe not the methods, but the tools yes, and over time it is slowly seeping into their methods too.”

CNC Exporters for Wood/Metal Framing Compatible with Revit 2022. PLUS New Exporters for EasyFrame & Pinnacle

While almost all AGACAD products are available through the Tools4BIM Dock, we do offer some specialized products that have to be installed separately. Those would be our exporters for sending wood and metal frames from Revit to CNC machines and CAD/CAM production lines for prefabrication.

As previously announced, the 2022 versions of all AGACAD applications accessible via the Dock have been released, so all those Revit plugins can be downloaded by Revit 2022 users. Now we’re pleased to inform you that we’ve released 2022 versions of our Wood / Metal CNC Exporters as well! So now producers of timber-framed and light-steel-framed buildings can press forward with their latest designs and rest assured that they can be output to machines for prefab.

Global BIM Survey: Dubai is leading UAE into the future

AGACAD is conducting a Global BIM Survey that draws on the expertise of its partners around the world to examine the status and local specifics of BIM in different countries. In this installment, we look at digital construction in the United Arab Emirates through insights provided by BIM experts at Dubai-based Generative Design Solutions Middle East (GDSME). This engineering solutions company has a great team in the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar that provides innovative technology solutions and services to the construction and manufacturing sectors.

Use of BIM standards in the UAE

Clients and owners are free to specify what standards to use for planning projects in the Middle East. They generally use or take benchmark settings from well-regarded standards like the UK’s Level 2 or the international BIM standard ISO 19650.

The same is true of classification standards, which have not been developed specifically for the region. Many clients take the US-based Uniformat or Masterformat, or Uniclass 2015 from the UK. As for protocols, for now we are taking the Construction Industry Council (CIC) Building Information Modelling Protocol from UK Level 2 and developing that for the requirements of clients here.

Dubai, meanwhile, as one of UAE’s seven emirates, has announced and is following a roadmap to develop its own BIM standard, with a first phase of it published this year and a second phase planned next year, in 2022. Thus Dubai is playing a leadership role, though GDSME stresses that the country as a whole is quite mature in terms of the level and volume of BIM use.

AGACAD Solutions Compatible with Revit 2022

To those who’ve been waiting to hear this announcement – thank you for your patience! Our BIM Application Engineers have been testing the Tools4BIM DOCK* against Revit 2022 to ensure complete compatibility. And now we’re pleased to announce that our BIM Solutions and Tools4Revit Add-ons are all ready to use with Revit 2022!

New Smart Views Tool Released for Revit Users

AGACAD has a brand-new tool available that makes project documentation easier for architects, MEP engineers, and structural engineers who use Autodesk® Revit®. Our newest product – Smart Views – lets you create any number of views with automated dimensions for selected elements in Revit without creating an assembly.

Smart Views is especially suited for Revit users who need to make drawings of sections and elevations of any building element, all the way from preliminary design stages through to a detailed design. It could be for a cast-in-place concrete wall with MEP openings or just a casework, a wood-framed wall or window, an elevation of selected walls, or a section of a particular connection.

So whether you’re an architect, structural engineer, or HVAC engineer, Smart Views is here to make your documentation tasks in Revit easier. And faster. That’s why we made the tool: to remove some stress out of your daily work.

Great news for current users!

If you are a current user of our Precast Concrete, Wood Framing, or Metal Framing design software, we have included Smart Views in your existing license(s), free of charge! See the ACTIVATION INSTRUCTIONS.

Not a current user of AGACAD’s Revit and BIM tools? We warmly invite you to out Smart Views for free – please scroll down for instructions.

AGACAD celebrates 30 years of growth & innovation

In February we celebrated our 30^th birthday as a company! Our thanks go out to everyone who has been with us throughout these years.

This momentous anniversary came amidst big changes. As announced last month, AGACAD has joined ARKANCE, a digital-transformation leader in Europe. Our readiness to become part of this group was the result of long years of steady effort. The BIM solutions that we create are valued worldwide because they ensure more productive design, fabrication, and contracting work.

Since its inception in 1991, AGACAD has grown from a group of like-minded individuals to an international company, step-by-step approaching the strategic goal of working for the success of the construction sector. From AutoCAD to Revit, from software representation to software development, purposeful steps have borne fruit. Launched in 2008, AGACAD’s BIM Solutions and Revit add-ons are now valued around the world for increasing efficiency in design, fabrication, and contracting.

Many thanks to all our clients and partners for trusting and choosing us. We also sincerely thank our employees for all their efforts and achievements. With the help of all of you, we have become a strong team that is recognized in Lithuania and beyond for its expertise and driving spirit. May the coming years be full of important initiatives, major tasks, and the courage and resolve to make them a reality!

AGACAD joins European digital-transformation leader ARKANCE

AGACAD is pleased to announce that it is joining ARKANCE – Europe’s fast-growing leader in the digital transformation of construction and manufacturing. ARKANCE has acquired AGACAD in what is its 10th acquisition of a top European CAD/BIM technology company in the last two years.

“Joining ARKANCE provides the resources to realize our vision of creating tomorrow’s AEC much more fully. It will let us serve existing AGACAD clients even better and enable us to implement our powerful BIM solutions for major international players,” says AGACAD Managing Director Donatas Aksomitas.

The transaction initiates a new stage of strategic growth for AGACAD, which has always been a pioneer in digital technologies for the building industry since it was founded 30 years ago.

“AGACAD has proven its ability to develop world-class, innovative digital technologies that offer new possibilities and large productivity gains for building and manufacturing industries. We look forward to leveraging that expertise, including but going beyond their current portfolio of solutions, to support clients in their digitalization journey,” says Gregoire Arranz, the CEO of ARKANCE.

AGACAD’s Managing Director stresses the company will maintain its driving spirit of ‘Building BIM Together’ and ‘Sharing BIM Advances’. It will continue directly serving its clients worldwide and ensuring the same accessible, attentive and flexible support and training that clients appreciate. The company also intends to continue working with its existing partners, agents and resellers.

Read the full text of today’s announcement.

AGACAD’s BIM tools are now in Japanese, too, with strong support by partner M&F

A year has passed since Tokyo-based M&F tecnica became AGACAD’s exclusive partner for sale and support of our solutions for BIM in Japan, and good things are happening in the country. Strong interest there in our Revit add-ons to automate 3D design and documentation is set to grow even more now that, with M&F’s help, they’ve been translated into Japanese!

“This partnership is yielding excellent results, strengthening AGACAD’s ability to ensure excellent service for clients in Asia and thus share BIM advances there as well,” AGACAD Managing Director Mr Donatas Aksomitas says. “M&F, who have been pioneers of BIM in Japan and Revit experts, are now experts also in AGACAD’s solutions based on the insights of top BIM professionals. Thus they are helping clients unlock even more of the immense value of modern building information modelling and management.”

Our holiday wish: Exchange gifts with love and data with clarity

Dear Clients, Colleagues, Friends and Followers,

Sharing is caring. That’s always true in families and communities, especially during the holidays. And it’s also very true in the world of BIM, where providing for each other’s information needs is key. For collaboration, for automation – for good decision-making and state-of-the-art solutions.

This year, while working remotely amid the pandemic, designers, architects, engineers, builders, property managers and others have all felt more sharply than ever how vital the effective exchange of data is.

In terms of data to exchange, accuracy takes effort. But clarity, real usefulness, takes more.

AGACAD Advances | Fall 2020

A lot has gone down in the past 6 months: new tools, fresh user interfaces, and the busiest webinar season we’ve ever had. All that and more in the latest edition of our newsletter AGACAD Advances.

• Modeling precast to LOD 400
• Tips for keeping Revit models running smoothly
• Revit massing
• Specialized framing collection: SIPS, CLT, OAK, Ventilated Facades, Curtain Walls & Panels
• Upcoming webinars
• Compatibility of Precast Concrete with ProdLib Library to insert Peikko and Anstar structural precast connections in Revit
• CNC Exporters
• 5 new client cases on framing and MEP design

Check out the Fall 2020 edition of AGACAD Advances.

Join our mailing list to get newsletters and webinar announcements delivered right to your inbox.