{"id":58035,"date":"2019-06-04T10:03:18","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T09:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=58035"},"modified":"2022-10-19T14:46:35","modified_gmt":"2022-10-19T13:46:35","slug":"west-cambridge-digital-twin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/digital-construction-news\/west-cambridge-digital-twin\/58035\/","title":{"rendered":"West Cambridge: Developing a digital twin demonstrator"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Institute for Manufacturing\u2019s<\/a> West Cambridge project is highlighting how digital twins can harness data from multiple sources to inform better building management, while improving productivity and wellbeing<\/h2>\n

Location: Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge West Cambridge campus.<\/p>\n

Project team: IfM, Centre for Digital Built Britain<\/a>, Bentley Systems<\/a>, Redbite<\/a>, Topcon<\/a>, GeoSLAM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Completion: Ongoing<\/p>\n

In 2017, the National Infrastructure Commission published a report, Data for the Public Good, which recognised the importance of data to the UK economy, stating: \u201cHigh quality, standardised data on all our infrastructure assets, along with the ability to share this securely, will enable the UK\u2019s infrastructure to be viewed as an independent, dynamic system\u201d.<\/p>\n

The NIC estimates that greater data sharing could release an additional \u00a37bn per year of benefits across the infrastructure sector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the report\u2019s key recommendations for the government was the development of a National Digital Twin.<\/p>\n

A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical asset that can harness data to provide information about its current design, state, condition and history, as well as the ability to share this data to better inform decision-making about how to both manage current infrastructure and what to build in the future.<\/p>\n

In January this year, the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB), via its Digital Framework Task Group, published the Gemini Principles<\/a> to guide the National Digital Twin and shape the information management framework that will enable it.<\/p>\n

The CDBB is currently in the process of establishing a Digital Twin Hub<\/a>, which will create a collaborative, learning community for those who own or are developing digital twins. It will provide a network for those seeking partners, a register of active digital twin projects and will identify the gaps that need to be addressed in moving towards a National Digital Twin.<\/p>\n

The National Digital Twin itself is not intended as a single, monolithic twin of the entire country\u2019s infrastructure. Rather, it will be a federation of many twins, representing assets and systems at different levels of granularity, brought together to generate greater value.<\/p>\n

To support this national ambition, the Centre for Digital Built Britain provided support for a digital twin pilot demonstrator project.<\/p>\n

\"Digital
\u00a9 Bentley Systems<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

West Cambridge twin<\/h3>\n

The aim of the project, which is being led by Dr Ajith Parlikad, is to develop a dynamic digital twin of the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) at the University of Cambridge, along with the wider West Cambridge campus, to demonstrate its impact on facilities management, productivity and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Its goals are to:<\/p>\n