Leveraging reality capture and digital twins to deliver a compliant, model-ready asset

The challenge

The Panaroma St Paul’s (81 Newgate Street) project aimed to create a consolidated as-built BWIC (Builder's Work in Connection) model that incorporated data from the fire stopping sub-contractors, from multiple asset models. This presented a highly complex coordination challenge, particularly in maintaining the integrity of the fire strategy and compliance with the Golden Thread of information and Building Safety Act.  

The scope involved over 7,000 individual penetrations, including builders’ work holes, site-drilled openings, and fire-stopping installations, each requiring precise documentation, tracking, and verification. Integrating information across various disciplines and ensuring all fire safety data was embedded within the BIM model added further complexity. A key obstacle was reconciling diverse data sources -from design team inputs and specialist sub-contractor models to reality- capture data, such as point clouds and 360° scans hosted on third party platforms (iFire).

The approach

The project demanded initiative and creative problem-solving to overcome its many challenges. To address these challenges, the ONE Creative Environments BIM and Digital Estates team employed a digital-first methodology. The strategy involved: 

• Centralised Model Coordination: A federated model was used to consolidate and coordinate penetrations, combining architect, structural, MEP, and subcontractor inputs. 
• Reality Capture & Validation: Digital scan records (e.g., 360 views, images) were used to cross-check as-built works against the model.  Where subcontractor models were unavailable or insufficient, holes and fire-stopping components were manually modelled from the third-party platform information (iFire) to ensure accuracy. 
• Metadata-Embedded Objects: Fire-stopping systems were embedded within the model as objects containing product references, fire ratings, and installation details, allowing future traceability. 
• Autodesk Tandem for Data Enrichment: Autodesk Tandem was used as a digital twin environment to enrich and manage fire safety data across thousands of model elements. This process began by linking all models via the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and using the Model Viewer to navigate and filter by specific building levels. Within this environment, users could: 
  • Filter by asset category or element type 
  • Add and manage custom parameters (e.g., fire ratings, system types, manufacturer references) 
  • Export/import structured Excel schedules for efficient bulk data updates 
  • Manage large, federated models more easily and visualise data entry 
• Cross-Team Verification: Regular coordination workshops and digital reviews ensured alignment across stakeholders, verifying that fire safety measures were installed and documented as per design intent. 

This workflow provided a centralised, dynamic platform to track and verify fire-stopping elements, reducing manual data entry and significantly enhancing transparency. Structuring data in this way was crucial to supporting the Golden Thread of information, ensuring fire safety details were accessible, auditable, and integrated from construction through to handover and long-term asset management. 

The outcomes

• 7,000+ penetrations coordinated and recorded across the model 

• 100% of site-drilled holes either modelled or verified against as-built reliable data 

• Hundreds of fire-stopping products modelled with embedded metadata (fire rating, product reference, system type) 

• Over 15 coordination workshops conducted to align contractor, consultant, and subcontractor inputs 

• Zero critical fire safety compliance issues raised at final digital QA stage 

• Enhanced digital handover, delivering a model-ready asset, traceable asset for facilities management and future fire strategy audits. 

Panaroma St Paul's stands as strong exemplar of Golden Thread implementation, embedding fire safety into the digital backbone of the project. By integrating reality-captured data, specialist inputs, and asset-level metadata, the project team ensured that critical fire safety information was not only captured but also verifiable, navigable, and usable throughout the building lifecycle, within a single source of truth: one final federated model. This level of digital assurance evidences compliance and greatly de-risks future refurbishments, maintenance, or emergency scenarios by ensuring that all fire-stopping measures are transparently documented and accessible by all parties.