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2023, A Year in Review at Trimble MEP UK and Middle East

Published Date

As the year comes to a close, join us as we look back on our 2023 milestones and key product developments.

CIBSE's Software Verification Assessment (SVA) program - Trimble is leading the way

Over the past couple of years, we're proud to have worked closely with CIBSE (Chartered Institute of Building Service Engineers) to develop their pioneering Software Verification Assessment (SVA) program, a calculation validation program that is designed to be a fair, accurate and good representation of what engineers face in their day-to-day work. Using verified M&E calculations gives engineers confidence in the accuracy and efficacy of their calculation results, meaning they can save time by no longer needing to double-check results and avoid unnecessary rework. 

As a leading building services software vendor, it is important to demonstrate our commitment to precision and reliability in the field, which is why, over the past 12 months, we've worked hard to expand our certificates to cover all of the mechanical calculations in Stabicad - an industry first! But we didn't stop there! We've continued to work with CIBSE to verify our electrical calculations and have now achieved verification certificates for six electrical calculations in Stabicad and ProDesign. 

Here is the full list of Trimble's verified calculations:

  • Air systems (Stabicad)Trimble's CIBSE SVA certificates
  • Domestic water systems (Stabicad)
  • Domestic water systems BS EN 806 (Stabicad) - new
  • Domestic water systems BS 8558 (Stabicad) - new
  • Drainage systems (Stabicad)
  • Electrical demand (Stabicad and ProDesign) - new
  • Electrical Systems: Cable Sizing (Stabicad and ProDesign) - new
  • Electrical Systems: Protective Devices (Stabicad and ProDesign) - new
  • Heating & cooling water systems (Stabicad)

To find out more about the SVA program and Trimble's involvement, visit this page. We look forward to verifying more calculations in 2024 and beyond!
 

Trimble Electrical Designer 2D

Now, let’s take a look at the milestones for our Trimble Electrical Designer 2D solution (ProDesign on subscription). This year, we introduced a range of new features, bug fixes, and performance updates. The new features include LV/LV transformers, integrated Arc Flash calculations and reporting, and a Quick Calculator to assess arc flash hazards. 

  • The integrated Arc Flash Study automatically calculates arc flash hazards based on the specific project characteristics and the Quick Calculator allows users to enter manual data outside the voltage constraints of a ProDesign project, providing flexibility and convenience. Both comply with IEEE 1584-2018 and NFPA 70E.
  • LV/LV transformers streamline the modeling of different voltages in a single LV network, saving time in electrical system designs. 

The new features are available to customers with a named user licence. To view the release notes, visit this page. 

We also published a customer story from EvoEnergy, a long-standing ProDesign customer, focusing on why they upgraded their original ProDesign product to Trimble Electrical Designer 2D (ProDesign on subscription) to tackle major electrical projects. Read about their experience.


Stabicad for Revit

Since launching in the UK a couple of years ago, our Stabicad development team has been working hard to meet the wants of the UK market and collecting continued user feedback – 2023 is no different. 

This year we introduced a new Stabicad bundle for MEP design technicians - a specific package designed with technicians in mind and access to the tools and features they’ll find useful. This is in addition to our existing mechanical and electrical bundles.

Some of the key development highlights include:

  • The addition of CIBSE symbols to improve your design consistency. The symbols include Air Terminals, AHU Components, Ductline Components, Heating and Cooling, Pipework Accessories, Fire Alarm, Lighting Switches and Lighting. 
  • Support for Single Phase Distribution Boards and the ability to generate electrical Single Line Diagrams in Revit.
  • The new 'assign mechanical calculation properties' feature improves the accuracy of your drawings.
  • The new Link functionality feature ensures synchronisation between your mechanical schematic design and 3D model.
  • Additionally, the Stabicad Shared parameter file has been centralised for easier access and management.

To see the full list of releases this year, visit this page.

If you're curious about Stabicad and want to hear from a Stabicad customer, watch our new customer story video where AV Unibrak, a HVAC contractor, talks about their experience with Stabicad and how they're seeing design efficiencies improve 3X!
 

Total Estimating

Lastly, 2023 has also been a busy year for our Estimating solutions. Back in March, we introduced the opportunity for Total Estimating customers to receive a 3-month free trial of Viewpoint Field View. Field View is a cloud-based and offline site management solution that replaces pen and paper in the field to record snagging, forms & permits, project delivery and handover. To find out more about Field View and this exclusive offer, check out this blog post.

Some of the estimating developments highlights include:

  • A new integration from ContractMaster and LiveCount to Trimble Connect gives you the ability to collaborate efficiently and accurately with stakeholders across different stages of the construction process. 
  • The Layer Templates feature saves significant time, particularly for users who perform takeoff first and then link their annotations to items in their estimate.
  • The Drawing Compare workflow now supports saving overlays, which helps with identifying changes and adjusting your takeoff. 
  • The Auto Count feature has been improved - You can now select and delete multiple unmatched results in one click. Plus, the Auto Count results dialog box is now larger and displays more results. This means less scrolling and faster reviewing and selecting results.
  • The Measurement Summary feature allows you to download takeoff annotations to Excel for easy sharing and vendor quotes, covering various annotations and details.

At the beginning of the year, Tilbury Douglas shared how Total Estimating has changed their estimating workflow. Read their customer story here. 

 

We want to take this opportunity to thank all of our customers, partners and colleagues for your continued support and wish you a restful holiday season and a happy start to the new year.

As we look ahead to 2024, we are excited to be working more closely with the Trimble Construction portfolio, including Viewpoint, Tekla, SketchUp and Field Solutions. Keep your eyes peeled for our new webinar series in February and March that will showcase how you can use Trimble's construction portfolio to transform your project lifecycle from concept through to construction - view the details and sign up here.