How BAM Nuttall improved site communication with Aphex

The Guildford Sewage Treatment Works relocation project is building a new modern sewage facility on a former landfill site at the Slyfield Industrial Estate, allowing for future housing development.

Contractor BAM Nuttall is building multiple structures including settlement tanks, filtration systems, and transfer tunnels. 

When finished, the project will provide modern sewage treatment facilities for a population of 125,300, accommodating both the Slyfield Area Regeneration Project development of 1,500 new homes and future population growth — while ensuring cleaner water is released into the River Wey.

We spoke with folks across the BAM Nuttall team to understand how Aphex has transformed their day-to-day operations.

The need for greater collaboration

Louis Jearum, Project Agent for structures, tells us that the team was looking for ways to enhance coordination and create a more unified planning process.

Prior to implementing Aphex, each team on the project kept their own schedules and information systems.

"Before, everyone just used to bring in their own individual programs. I would bring in the PFA program, the subcontractors would bring in theirs. It was just individual programs.”

With multiple teams working across different areas of the site, they needed better tools to visualize work areas, identify potential scheduling conflicts, and communicate plans effectively to everyone involved.

As Louis explains, this is why the team turned to Aphex.

“Aphex is more of a collaborative approach where everyone can see one another's information."
_{Louis Jearum, Project Agent}‍

Visualising the plan for daily briefings

One of the most significant improvements since onboarding Aphex has been the transformation of daily briefings. The BAM team now uses Aphex's Map View to communicate the plan to over 100 workers each morning.

Yusuf Ocal is Sub-Agent for structures. As he explains, "We use Aphex for our daily briefings every day. We mark everything on the map, including road closures, deliveries, and pump installations. When we show the team the map, they can easily understand what's going on in each location."

This represents a major improvement over their previous approach, which relied on PowerPoint presentations that needed to be manually updated daily. Dale Spiers, a Foreman on the project, estimates this used to take 30-60 minutes every day — time that can now be better spent on site activities.

Louis agrees and adds that the new approach is much more effective. “Aphex gives us a much more professional look. It gets the team engaged a lot more rather than reading bullet points on a screen — because now you can really see where the work is taking place.” 

Streamlining weekly planning

The team has also established a robust weekly planning routine centered around Aphex.

As Louis explains, “We have a collaborative planning session every Thursday. All the teams get together as well as the subcontractors, and we go through all the areas and interfaces."

Yusuf details how this process works. “We have a board on the wall with color codes for each subcontractor. Whatever is related to subcontractor A, we write on yellow sticky notes and stick on the date on the board. Then on Friday, I update all the tasks on Aphex based on the board for the six-week lookahead program."

By combining hands-on traditional planning methods with Aphex's digital tools, the team gets the best of both worlds. Everyone on the project now has easy access to a clear, comprehensive six-week plan that makes sense to them.

From thirty minutes to thirty seconds

The time savings from using Aphex have been substantial. As Yusuf explains, "For daily tasks and updates, it just takes maybe five to six minutes to update Aphex.” 

The design team has experienced similar benefits. Richard Scott, Design Manager, explains that Aphex has streamlined his preparation for progress meetings.

"The previous regime would take me half an hour to prep for a progress meeting on Monday morning. That's changed to me clicking one button in a dashboard for the Power BI integration from Aphex and having a snapshot within 30 seconds. I've gone from 30 minutes of my time to 30 seconds."
_{Richard Scott, Design Manager}

The biggest cost saving is clash detection

Though saving time is great, the team told us that Aphex's ability to spot potential clashes before they happen has had the biggest impact. Aphex automatically identifies when two activities are planned in the same location at the same time, allowing issues to be resolved before they impact work on site.

As Louis says, "The clash detection function is the biggest cost saving. It's incredibly useful to see where people are going to be clashing, or whether it's going to be a bit of a tight area. It’s a massive help."

This improved visibility has practical safety implications too, as Yusuf points out. “It also helps with health and safety. We're showing that lifting activities are going on, so people stay away. The value will be doing the excavations, people stay away."

Better communication with subcontractors

The team has also found that working together in Aphex has helped build better relationships with their subcontractors.

Richard Scott highlights how the system creates transparency around changes and delays.

"It’s great that the subcontractors can tweak the program themselves, and give reasons for delay. If they think they've got a unified case for an activity taking 15 days instead of 10, they've got everything on the platform to put in their reasoning for us to see that."

This detail has proven valuable when assessing compensation events and commercial changes. Because Aphex automatically collects data about reasons for delays throughout the build, it acts as an audit trail for conversations with clients. 

“When we're assessing compensation events and commercial changes, we use Aphex and the audit trail to see the reasons why any changes to the plan occurred. That data is really useful for us.”
_{Richard Scott, Design Manager}

Expanding usage

The BAM Nuttall team continues to find new ways to leverage Aphex. Louis mentions they're looking to incorporate resource planning in the future, while Richard has been using the PowerBI dashboard integration to generate reports.

When asked if they could ever go back to their previous methods, Louis is definitive. "No, I couldn't go back. It was very difficult before."

The team's advice for other projects considering Aphex is straightforward. Richard advises teams to get started as soon as possible. "Get in early, get everyone using it regularly, incorporate it into the weekly routine.”

Louis agrees. "Just take it on and adapt. Aphex will save you time and a lot of hassle in the future."