WSP Tracks and Manages critical Jerusalem Light Rail projects with a Digital Construction Platform

WSP Global is a world leading Engineering and Professional Services firm, with the goal of supporting communities in planning, designing, managing and engineering complex projects across verticals such as transportation and infrastructure, property, earth and environment, and more.

The company is using DatuBIM, a cloud-based constrction data analytics and management platform, to monitor the progress and quality of an extension of the existing red line of the Jerusalem Light Rail.

As part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) project to extend the existing red line of the Jerusalem Light Rail, WSP Global’s local subsidiary, WSP Israel, was hired as the monitoring company by the state. There are many stakeholders involved in this long-term project, which is headed up by the Accountant General of the Ministry of Finance

WSP is an integral part of the operation, with a wide role that includes reviewing the designs, monitoring quality and progress on behalf of the State, and ensuring the project is completed to specification. They are on hand to consult on special cases or challenges using their wide experience and expert knowledge.

Based on the prototype of this project, additional transportation projects in Israel will be monitored using a digital platform, both in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

From the start, WSP realized that this project required a new way of thinking. “In many ways, the Light Rail project was unchartered territory” said Asaf Yaffe, Control Manager at WSP Israel. “It’s a long-term project over a wide area, and there are multiple stakeholders to consider and include. We have the project company, which is responsible for the build, project managers on the state side, the municipality, the Bursar’s offices of the State, many designers from every side. I could go on.”

WSP wanted a solution that could help solve or even prevent discrepancies between parties — a platform that would future-proof against clashes or claims by showing a consistent view of what was happening on the ground. “We also wanted something to help us cooperate with one another,” continued Asaf. “Many people sit in the office and they hardly go on site. We wanted to be able to bridge that gap.”

WSP approached Datumate with these goals in mind, with the requirement of documenting accurate imagery, and providing stakeholders in the field and in the office with a centralized place to store accurate information and collaborate.

After a successful pilot on a small but complex project over a period of 8-9 weeks, WSP realized that there was a lot more value from a digital construction platform than originally thought. “During the trial, we were able to pass information to the project company and fix things on the go, even in a condensed city full of traffic” said Asaf. “For example, we could see where construction activities were still required and where poles and utilities were being impacted, and send exact pictures and coordinates so that teams knew what to fix in granular detail. It made a huge difference.”

After a year of using DatuBIM, WSP now considers the tool to be integral to collaboration and control in the long-term Jerusalem Light Rail expansion project.By using their design documentation and layering it on the drone imagery from regular flights, stakeholders can immediately see where there are discrepancies or issues to fix — before costly rework or errors occur. “We have four or five layers of design, and we can incorporate each and every one in a vertical structure and see how each is doing,” said Asaf. “As the imagery is updated continually, we can be certain of the accuracy — which is significant when you’re working on such a dynamic project.”