Digital twin created for €4.7bn London development

Representation of the Canada Water masterplan from British Land

Sensat, a developer of collaboration software for civil infrastructure, has created a digital twin of a new 21 hectare development in Canada Water, London.

Created in partnership with development and investment company British Land and information management firm Amodal, the visualisation of the entire site is intended to be part of a ‘golden threat’ of connected data - giving planning teams the opportunity to coordinate processes over the length of the €4.7 billion project.

Sensat says stakeholders will also be able to visualise site conditions remotely, aiding collaborative decision-making and contingency planning.

Under the auspices of Southwark Council, the project’s scope encompasses the creation of a new town centre for Rotherhithe, including 4,500 new homes and 35,000m2 of additional retail space.

Sensat CEO, James Dean, said, “A masterplan of this cost and scale could easily become fragmented, falling foul to misaligned incentives, behaviours and objectives, as well as delayed delivery timetables due to unreliable data, but we have helped overcome this and accelerate planning.

“It’s only when you see comprehensive information on existing assets, above- and below-ground utilities and infrastructure, as well as surveys and inspections, visually in one place that you can support collective problem-solving and mitigate the risks. We look forward to continuing to be a key enabler for smart planning to help partners build better and see the wider knock-on benefits this will have on other stakeholders linked to the masterplan.”

David Walters, programme director at British Land, said, “The ability to both accurately scan the site, and confidently pull together lots of disparate data into one single platform, is amazingly powerful. The speed of iteration really helps for quicker options appraisal, more efficient handover processes, and better clash detection to reduce contingency costs. It’s been an invaluable resource when thinking through phasing.”