The client:
Bruntwood are one of the largest commercial property investment companies in the country. Owning over 3.7 million sq.ft. across sixty-three office properties, from the traditional to the ultra-modern, their portfolio includes 14% of Manchester city centre offices and 8% of South Manchester office space, with buildings also in Warrington, Liverpool and Birmingham.

The project:
"Accurate up-to-date drawings are essential to maintain the 20% p.a. growth of Bruntwood," states Martin Gizzie BSc (Hons) MRICS, Building Surveyor, Bruntwood. "We have maintained an aggressive acquisition strategy over the last 26 years with St James's Buildings' 350,000 sq.ft. added to our portfolio earlier this year.

We commissioned MATL (M-Axon Technology Limited) to produce a complete set of drawings for all floors at the beginning of October 2003. We required the drawings as quickly as possible with the very latest completion date being the end of December 2003."

The method:
MATL uses a revolutionary solution to achieve enormous savings in time and cost for the client. By linking a Disto Laser measuring device directly to a mobile CAD system they are able to measure and draw a building in one operation allowing them to e-mail the completed CAD drawings to the client before leaving the site. 

The UDS System used for this project comprises a Disto, a mobile device, a link cable and the UDS software.  Michael Axon, MD of MATL, explains: " When measuring St James's Buildings, the system allowed us to triangulate accurately the position of everything from columns to light fittings, sprinklers to doors and windows. The system gave us about six hours measuring and drawing time on site before it required charging." 

The result:
MATL completed the project within one month of receiving the purchase order and for 50% of the nearest rival fee quoted.

Using the usual measuring methods, it would have taken two men two months to measure the building and then one man one month to draw it up on CAD. Using this system allowed one man to complete all the measuring and drawing in just one month complete with 3D walk-throughs. 

The benefits:
The benefits for the client are more accurate plans produced in a fraction of the time for less than half the normal fee. The benefits for MATL are that we can undertake more commissions at a third of the normal overhead cost. We issue all data back to the client in the form of an autorun DVD-style CD containing accurate measured survey drawings, photographs of the property and 3D walk-throughs.

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