Sergey Tkachenko, Deputy Director for Asset Development at Nornickel, commented: “Construction is not our core business; we mine base and precious metals. At the same time, the company is implementing a large-scale investment programme that includes construction of production facilities and residential facilities under the Norilsk Renovation Programme. We need to make sure that the money does not go to waste: build faster and save wherever possible. The digitalisation of construction processes will help us to achieve this”.

The digital platform for construction management is a shared data environment for an individual project. At its core is a digital model of the building or structure, a BIM, which is augmented as the project is built.

Thanks to this platform, documents describing the construction process are digital, and data exchange between construction managers becomes fast. Such a solution also helps to identify design errors, deviations from the project plans: all this saves time and money for corrections.

Nornickel is testing digital construction systems at the sites of Norilsk’s renovation programme. Under this programme, which will last until 2035, the city is dismantling emergency buildings and raises dozens of new houses, clinics, kindergartens and schools. Nornickel is investing 80 billion roubles in the renovation of the Arctic city.

Once digital platform testing is done, Nornickel plans to have made a unified software shell and common data environment where project manager can interact at all stages of construction. They will be able to see live from a PC what is happening at the construction site, check the status of a facility, verify and agree documents, and update data, said Robert Urmancheev, Head of projects of Construction Technologies Development at Nornickel.

Together with IT partners, Nornickel is developing a strategy to integrate both implemented solutions and new modules into the construction management system. This work is in line with the way the construction industry as a whole is developing. Digitalisation of construction is one of the areas the Russian Ministry of Construction is developing.