Detailed Design

Gaining the necessary; Mechanical, Civil, Coordination and Construction/Delivery experience, takes many years/projects to develop, which is why 3DTD is a Specialist Consultancy.

3D Technical design follow CDM best practice by ensuring that all our designers have at least 5 years practical delivery and operation experience, before leading on a heat network design.

3D Technical Design’s Detailed Design Services focus on the belief that:

  • Our Design Engineers are effective due to our design team all having combined experience across; Mechanical, Civil, Traffic Management, Coordination, BIM and CDM.
  • Our duty is to ensure design information is clear, annotated, and presented for decision making, costing and quality-led construction.
  • CDM is enabling the industry to improve through requiring informed practitioners to provide detailed designs and pre-construction advice.

Our technical consultants are also complemented by specialised, and vastly experienced commercial and finance practitioners, who are able to support clients through procurement, contracting, delivery and governance.

Driving Best Practice and Construction Governance

3D Technical Design have an excellent reputation for both demonstrating and facilitating a quality-led approach in design and construction governance.

Our consultants possess and demonstrate a genuine passion in sharing knowledge, process and best practices. In 2017, we wrote our well recognised Best Practice Guide, which shared our approach to de-risking the buried environment.

We are pleased that our methods have been adopted for the benefit of the industry, and highlight that, its effectiveness must be underpinned by practitioner-led implementation.

Customer Experience

Below are testimonials received from several of our clients. A common theme across all our clients is their progressive and supportive approach in developing both solutions and scope in partnership, and we are proud of our track record in establishing and enhancing long term relationships.

3D Technical Design’s approach has been professional, flexible, strategic and proactive in assisting Stoke-on-Trent City Council to accelerate and control the delivery of the first phase of our District Heat Network.
Sébastien Danneels
Sébastien DanneelsDHN Technical Lead Manager
3D Technical Design have played a central role in supporting the development of a complex multi-party project through to its construction phase. They have assisted us in identifying, understanding and managing complex project risks, whilst being flexible and focused, highlighting necessary options and solutions which have been vital to navigating our stakeholders through the various Heat Network route coordination options and challenges which exist within city-centre environments.
Paul Barker
Paul Barker Energy Infrastructure Manager
This work ticks all the boxes of service, turnaround, response time, flexibility, competence, quality. Everything I want from an external company. You guys truly are the best in class at what you do!
Michael Ridge
Michael RidgeDesign Manager
Community Energy B2M

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Specialists in Buried Heat Networks

The benefits of our practitioner-led advice include:

  • Reducing capital costs and risk
  • Aligned to real project experience
  • Stakeholder management is led by experienced delivery professionals
  • Informed identification and prioritising of risks
  • A detailed understanding of all the factors which affect the path to construction
  • Detail consistent with the Client's statutory obligations under CDM
  • Enhancing the requirements of CIBSE CP1 Code of Practice

3D Technical Design possess a unique level of Heat Network; Feasibility, Design and Delivery experience, which spans over 15 years. We are a consultancy who solely specialise in the delivery of Heat Networks.

Construction Design / Delivery Experience:

Throughout the last 15 years, our Engineers have played central roles in the design, delivery and expansion of the following schemes:

  • Stoke-on-Trent
  • Bristol Temple Circus
  • Sheffield
  • Olympic Park
  • Coventry Heat Line
  • London Excel
  • Birmingham
  • Southampton
  • Leicester
  • York
  • Nottingham
  • Dunfermline

Detailed Design and Coordination:

Detailed heat network design is a highly specialist expertise, as gaining the necessary; Mechanical, Civil, Coordination and Construction/Delivery experience, takes many years/projects to develop. 3D Technical design follow CDM best practice by ensuring that all our designers have at least 5 years practical delivery and operation experience, before leading on a heat network design, which must:

  • Be practitioner-led and fully coordinated with stakeholders.
  • Contain sufficient detail regarding the risks associated with the buried environment.
  • Be informed by an appropriate level of both; Underground Utility Detection (GPR) and Traffic Management detail.
  • Inform Contractors and Clients of risks which are unique to the project environment.
  • Facilitate and highlight the need for in-construction change control/governance.
  • Enable accurate tender-pricing providing a level of detail which protects the client commercially.
  • Provide a level of detail which supports a quality led procurement and delivery;
  • Civil (excavation/setting-out/surveying) coordinates
  • Mechanical (welding/expansion/material/cutting) detail.

Our Services - Work Packages

The following work packages allow 3DTD’s clients to tailor the level of information/support required in the pre-construction detailed design phase:

3D Technical Design offer both reassurance and experience in;

  • Identifying, stakeholder mapping, and prioritising key project stakeholders.
  • Ensuring that affected stakeholders are appropriately consulted by a delivery practitioner with experience in both pre-construction coordination, and managing consent path approvals.
  • Producing information, appropriate for its audience, having gained experience in drafting;
    • Works information for the general public,
    • Executive memos for Council Deputy Leaders,
    • Detailed technical submissions for Network Rail/Highways Agency/CRT.

The benefit of 3DTD’s approach is that both underground utility information and topographical survey details are utilised (including: highways lanes, chambers, curbs, structures, trees) to develop a mechanical design which is appropriately coordinated with the above/below ground environment.
Being a niche/specialist design consultancy, our clients benefit from practical references to real life examples of why design decisions are made.

To complement 3DTD’s route drawings, Traffic Management Strategy drawings are offered.

These provide an experienced insight into how the construction programme will incorporate highways restrictions/phasing.

Traffic Management Strategy drawing supports also highways in developing a deeper understanding of heat networks (and in particular expansion loops), prior to construction, to explain and minimise disruption.

3DTD design and 3D model the advanced utility detection information to de-risk the design and civil environment.

This process is then complemented by both pre-construction and in-construction trial holes to verify the route.

3DTD’s construction experience means that each trial hole can be; prioritised, justified and the required output information set out to the Contractor and Surveyor.

3DTD tailor the level of detail produced for each detailed design, and depending on the risk profile of each project, can either 3D model key chamber positions, or issue Highways specification typical details to the Contractor.

Developing and tailoring trench details for each project is also a significant benefit in highlighting how weld pits and widened trenches (to accommodate curved pipe) should be excavated.

3DTD offer the production of duct route drawings designed on the following principles:

  • Maintaining a shallow trench.
  • Providing access for future maintenance and branch connections.
  • Minimising the number of duct chambers.

3DTD work with all of the UK’s major district heating and cooling pipe suppliers, who each have differing expansion tolerances.

3DTD therefore produce in-house expansion calculations prior to a Client/Contractor appointing their supplier.

This process also ensures that expansion forces are assessed based on their unique environment (depth/utility density), and major changes are continually monitored and approved in construction.

  • Essential to the construction process.
  • Enable accurate monitoring of the network in operation.
  • Support precise positioning of faults in operation.
  • A key record to expand the scheme (each future branch connection needs to know which wire it is connecting to).

CDM 2015 Compliance

3DTD support the client’s fulfilment of their CDM obligations through a three phased approach:

  1.  Explain CDM roles and responsibilities to the Client.
  2.  Develop detailed and project specific construction/operational health and safety HAZIDS and annotate drawings so that they are clear.
  3.  Attend the pre-construction CDM coordination to ensure that pre-construction risks are understood by the Contractor, to enhance in-construction safety and planning.

Our development of documents is critical to CDM compliance and informing the Pre-Construction Information Pack, HAZID, HAZOP.

3DTD ensure that information gathered in the Feasibility and Detailed Design coordination is clearly presented, which supports commercial best practice and Stakeholder Management.

 Information which is captured in these drawings includes:

  • Works Phasing (Length/chronology)
  • Key stakeholder dates/restrictions
  • Working time restrictions
  • Third party consent and RAMS reviews required
  • Highways constraints
  • Noise restrictions

3D Design

3DTD refer to the statutory utility records to 3D Model detected utilities, and code them based on asset type and detection quality level.

The 3D utility model is an essential tool for both target /depth analysis, clash detection and detailed 3D design.

The 3D model also enables informed in-construction design change analysis to minimise disruption and ensure issues can be surveyed on-site and promptly re-designed remotely.

3DTD offer detailed 3D centreline designs; which, when complemented with pipe modelling, accurately set out, material length/curved dimensions, weld positions and pipe cutting details (essential for the mechanical installation).

This level of precision demonstrates how 3DTD both understand and have developed products with construction quality enablers at their heart.

3DTD produce both Civil and Mechanical long-section drawings which collate:

  • Plan Views
  • Pipe Modelled Long-sections
  • Excavation setting out details
  • Weld Positions
  • Detailed risk notes associated with the Underground Utility Detection Survey.

This detail is unique in the industry, and vital to ensuring there is an appropriate level of detail to construct against.

3DTD are able to utilise the 3D utility model to undertake typical trench depth analysis.

This process is more cost effective than producing detailed 3D Long-Section Drawings, whilst providing typical excavation depths and clash analysis.

The 3D models can then be used to inform risk and design change management during construction.

3D Technical Design Ltd – Always in Partnership.  |  Copyright 2018

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