Sweco improves communication between construction sites and designers – Sweco’s SmartDrawings ™ service expands to building services engineering 

Published 15.11.2023

Sweco’s SmartDrawings™ facilitates communication between design disciplines and the different parties involved in a construction project by providing all parties with easy access to up-to-date information models and plans. In addition to building technology plans, SmartDrawings’ features will expand significantly for free to use. 

With the SmartDrawings™, Sweco significantly facilitates access to plans and enhances communication between design disciplines and the different parties involved in the construction project. The service brings intelligence to traditional 2D printouts and significantly increases the usability of Sweco’s designs, while heading towards a paperless construction site. Through Sweco’s designs, the new features enable better communication in the construction process and a more error-free implementation. 

The SmartDrawings ™ service has been part of Sweco’s structural plans for over 2 years, and now the service is expanding to include building technology plans. In MEP installations, the data content and 3D geometry of the building information model make it easier to understand the design and enable seamless communication between different parties. 

“The expansion of building services plans to SmartDrawings™ is an expected renewal for our customers. The service offers the easiest way to open the data model of the object and significantly promotes the utilisation of the data models. From the QR code of the plan directly to the up-to-date data model – no app downloads or login needed. We make the building information model easy for the makers to utilise,” says Niko Vironen, Sweco’s VDC Development Department Manager. 

Besides to building information models, other plans are also needed to implement MEP plans. SmartDrawings ™ service can also be used to open PDF drawings, such as diagrams, lists and level drawings, in electronic format and view the revision history of the plan. SmartDrawings™ service will be available to Sweco’s customers free of charge in all applicable projects. SmartDrawings Viewer service functionality will extendedsignificantly for free: in the future, tools such as measurement, cuts, commenting and data model data will be included in the service. Previously, only viewing the data model was free of charge. 

“We originally developed SmartDrawings™ to improve communication between designers and construction sites. The service solves the challenges of information flow on site and ensures easy availability of different parts of plans and the latest revisions on site. The service works on any device, without searching for files or downloading software. The role-based service enables information content to be intelligently filtered by the user’s role. SmartDrawings ™ imports data models from the designers’ desktops to the creators. The building information models in the SmartDrawings™ service are automatically produced directly from the design software as part of Sweco’s normal design process, so we can be sure that the building information models are always up-to-date”, Vironen continues. 

“The SmartDrawings™ extension now being published is the first commercial version. The development and deepening of the service will continue to be invested in, for example, property maintenance and BIM-based maintenance book material. In addition, the service enables customer-specific customizations, such as apartment-specific models to support the sales material of the property.” Sweco’s Business Director Juha Mäkirinta says. 

For additional information, please contact: 

Juha Mäkirinta, Business Area Director, Sweco Finland, 040 558 2113, juha.makirinta@sweco.fi
Niko Vironen, Head of Department, VDC and Service Development, Sweco Finland, 050 303 4497, niko.vironen@sweco.fi
Tiina Varhee, Press Contact , Sweco Finland, 040 723 1231, ext.tiina.varhee@sweco.fi