Why Unispace Is Rolling Out
OpenSpace Globally to Improve
Quality Control and Transparency
Global Design-Build Firm Recently Signed an Enterprise Partnership with OpenSpace

Goal: Improve Remote Collaboration
Internally and with Clients

photo documentation. It provided a more complete
record of each jobsite—and in a fraction of the time
manual capture with a camera or phone would take.

Global design-build firm, Unispace, was looking forinnovative ways to share progress on construction sites,
which became essential after COVID-19 hit. They neededa solution that would seamlessly integrate with theirmanagement program, Procore, and their 3D modelingsoftware, uniBIM.
Company employees were already well-versed in remotecollaboration, with project members often distributed

OpenSpace helps streamline
our quality control and quality
assurance processes, which
is important given the large
territories we cover.”Tom Prasky
Regional Principal, Delivery, Unispace

throughout the country, but Unispace’s leadership wanted
a way to provide ground truth and ensure that every

Excited to leverage this transformational technology,

stakeholder—from project managers and superintendents

Unispace incorporated OpenSpace into several projects,

to designers and client representatives—always had anincluding a New York-based project for Mediterranean

up-to-date understanding of the project status.

Shipping Company, a Canada-based project for HCL
Technologies (which the U.S.-based project team had
to manage 100% remotely due to COVID-19 travel

Strategy: Integrate OpenSpace Into
Agile Approachrestrictions) and a Des Moines-based project for law

When Unispace first piloted OpenSpace, they werePrior to using OpenSpace, Unispace teams typically

impressed by the in-depth site capture from the 360

took still photos and occasional videos during biweekly

firm, Fredrikson & Byron.

walkthroughs. With OpenSpace’s continuous capture
functionality, team members walked the site with a 360
camera strapped to their hard hats and were able to get a100X

more complete record of the project. Since the imagery
was automatically mapped to project plans, OpenSpace
made it possible to track progress more quickly and zoom

THAN MANUAL CAPTURE“OpenSpace helps streamline our quality control andquality assurance processes, which is important given the30% REDUCTION

large territories we cover and clients who consistently
bring us to different parts of the country,” said Tom

OF TRAVEL COSTSPrasky, a Region Principal of Delivery at Unispace.

Adam Petersen
Regional Principal, Delivery, Unispace

DOCUMENTATION

10X FASTER

in on how specific areas were progressing week by week.

OpenSpace has been atool for us to manage theaccountability of our vendors
so we can be confident in theproduct we’re delivering toour clients.”

MORE COMPLETETENS OF THOUSANDS
OF DOLLARS SAVED ON REWORKResults: Significant Cost Savings andGreater Transparency
Based on the success of the pilot projects, Unispace has

By surfacing issues that may otherwise be detected at aentered into an enterprise agreement with OpenSpace

later stage, a real-time view of site conditions benefited

to scale usage of the platform globally. The company has

stakeholders. During a virtual walkthrough powered byseen positive results in these areas:

OpenSpace at a recent Owner-Architect-Contractor
meeting, the decision-making team noticed the color•

Reduced travel costs: By enabling virtualof the window mullions and opted to have them painted,

walkthroughs, OpenSpace has cut back on the needresulting in a change order. Without OpenSpace, they may

for some Unispace team members to be on-site. For

not have noticed until after construction was complete.

example, designers based out of Ohio were able toconduct some of their inspections via OpenSpace“Sometimes it’s hard for clients to understand the status

instead of traveling to their site in Iowa. On theof a project when they’re not on-site regularly,” said

same four-month job, the Senior Safety Manager

Daniel Juchima, a Senior Project Manager at Unispace.

responsible for all North American projects only“Seeing how it’s coming along in real-time is hugely

needed to be on-site twice, and completed the rest

beneficial for them.”of his monthly inspections remotely with the sameattention to detail.

•

Improved collaboration with subcontractors: On a

Improved internal collaboration: By letting every

recent project, Unispace managed access for subs byinternal team member see real-time conditions morecreating virtual folders with specific imagery instead

quickly, OpenSpace helps field teams and designers

of providing full access to the site. This has provenwork together more efficiently. For example, design

to be an efficient way to get bids, especially in theteams can quickly address questions or issues

COVID-19 era when physical access to job sites has

without having to come to the site or rely on manual

been curtailed. On the HCL project in Canada wherephotos. “It’s very helpful to give designers an idea

the team had to contract with a local GC becauseof the status of an entire room,” said Michaelof COVID-19 travel restrictions, Unispace’s Project

Cosimano, a Superintendent at Unispace. “It helps us

Manager relied on OpenSpace to keep tabs on thecommunicate and collaborate more effectively.”schedule. “OpenSpace has been a tool for us tomanage the accountability of our vendors so we canbe confident in the product we’re delivering to ourclients,” said Adam Petersen, a Regional Principal atUnispace.
•••

More transparency for clients: OpenSpace hassignificantly improved communication with clients.
“It has given clients peace of mind and additional
confidence in Unispace,” says Daniel Juchima.
“No matter where they’re based, they can see for

Savings on rework: More complete documentation

themselves that a project is on schedule insteadand better collaboration helps Unispace detectof just taking our word for it.” Clients have also

issues at an earlier stage and avoid rework. Catching

benefited from being able to see a side-by-side

a significant punch list item and getting it fixedview of current site conditions alongside the BIM

saved Unispace “additional time that would havemodel. Unispace has started detailing its relationshipbeen required for rework after project completion,”with OpenSpace in RFP responses to assure globallyaccording to Prasky. In another instance, a designer

dispersed clients that they’ll be able to track

picked up on a discrepancy between the drawing andprogress in granular detail no matter where they’re

how a bulkhead had been built. Unispace was able tolocated.

correct the error before a walkthrough with the client.