Ennova Facades Inc. and its sibling company, Contract Glaziers Inc. (CGI), provides custom façade solutions for high-profile projects throughout North America. “We are involved in the whole project from start to finish – from envisioning the conceptual design, to fabricating and manufacturing unitized curtain wall and façade systems, to installing the systems and enclosing the building,” describes Rolando Cano, Ennova and CGI’s director of product development. “We are a fully integrated company with in-house capabilities to handle the most innovative building designs with the highest performance requirements.
Contributing to its success, Ennova’s team has relied on CAD-PLAN’s ATHENA AutoCAD®-based software and compatible building information modelling (BIM) for nearly 20 years. Most recently, Ennova is relying on ATHENA to assist with a high-profile, historic renovation and re-clad project on Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital campus. ATHENA also plays a key role in Ennova’s new ENNVELOP customizable, prefabricated rainscreen wall panel system products, which will be on display at GlassBuild America in booth #24032.
Accuracy as Advantage
Ennova and CGI’s broad scope of services for building envelope projects requires careful attention to detail, especially for unique and complex building designs that may require multiple adjustments.
Ensuring accuracy with automation, and increasing efficiency by streamlining processes that reduce duplicated efforts are proven best practices in manufacturing. They also are fundamental to Ennova’s effective, collaborative design and construction process. “Lean construction enhances the value of our projects by helping us to identify areas of wasted resources and leads to better productivity, reduced safety hazards and increased cost savings,” notes Rolando.
He says Ennova use of ATHENA, BIM and other digital tools are considered a strategic advantage for the company and “remains at the core of our process and ensures we increase efficiency and reduce costly errors. What sets Ennova apart from our competitors is that we keep the entire design-assist process in-house, so the team is immersed in all aspects of the project.”
ATHENA allows Ennova to draft 2D drawings, extract bills of materials (BoMs), prepare installation documents, produce 3D renderings and review iterations without repeating tasks. Using ATHENA can increase productivity allowing the drafting team to work up to 60% faster than using traditional methods.
Innovation in Action
ATHENA’s automated functionality can curate a private library of original components across a custom design or access an existing collection of approved materials and products. “Our team is constantly researching new materials and manufacturing procedures to ensure our clients get the best possible performance façades,” Rolando emphasizes.
Supporting performance, clear communication and Ennova and CGI’s integrated services, Rolando highlights several features: “ATHENA lets you add tags and layers to the shop drawings, which is very helpful such as if we want to identify a curtain wall element’s position in an elevation. Within ATHENA we can generate a bill of materials to order what we need including glass and new dies for custom aluminum framing. We can send the drawings and files from ATHENA to our shop so they know exactly how to fabricate and sequence the parts for installation. And, we can use ATHENA to create the documentation for the installers to follow in the field. It’s a very fluid process.”
ATHENA and its digital drafting tools save time in developing schematic designs, collaborating with the entire project team and coordinating approvals. “We’re often working with very aggressive project schedules,” says Rolando. “ATHENA can save us a lot of time, which lets our people do more. It’s basically AutoCAD for glazing.”
According to Rolando, this cutting-edge-technology and software, “allows us to effectively manage large amounts of geometrically complex data in a streamlined and efficient manner. We use [it] to not only develop a visual model, but to provide accurate job costing and a building schedule early in the project, which can then be tracked to ensure that the project finishes on time and on budget.”
Custom Training, Custom Projects
Along with its ATHENA licenses, Ennova has invested in training. CAD-PLAN’s e-learning platform presents on-demand video tutorials for self-guided instruction. Matthew Marshall, technical sales and support manager for CAD-PLAN North America, developed individualized workshops for Ennova to supplement the standard materials.
After seeing the e-learning courses, Rolando worked closely with Matthew to develop the company-specific training. “The training CAD-PLAN offers was very eye-opening and helpful for me,” acknowledges Rolando. “ATHENA offers a high value. We want to get the most out of it we can. We have 20 people on our drafting and fabrication staff. We’re training a few people at a time. We’re beginning to augment our processes to incorporate ATHENA all the way through.”
“ATHENA is flexible enough to handle Ennova’s different types of projects, including those with customized, unitized curtain walls and ACM panels. It also works well for their Ennova fabricated product offering,” says Matthew.
Rolando agrees, “We’ve successfully used ATHENA for simulations and smaller projects, and are rolling it out into more significant, custom projects. Right now, we are completely relying on ATHENA from concept to production to installation for our important renovation project at the Michael Garron Hospital campus.”
Meaningful Applications
Opened in 1929, the Michael Garron Hospital is undertaking a campus-wide, multi-year redevelopment and modernization project to re-envision the active campus for the 21st century and beyond. Design and construction partners include EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare, the Ministry of Health and Infrastructure Ontario, plus B+H Architects, Diamond Schmitt Architects and Ennova.
Continuing its part in this notable project, Ennova’s team will be reskinning the 6,700 ft2 (622 m2) administrative building with a custom curtain wall and cladding system. “Currently, the project is in the design stage. The 2D drawings and bill of materials created in ATHENA are being approved and then we’ll move into 3D and send it to the shop. We should be installing in early January,” shares Rolando.
Ahead of the winter field work, Rolando and his colleagues at Ennova and CGI will be in Orlando for GlassBuild America. CAD-PLAN also will be exhibiting at the event. Matthew adds, “We’re looking forward to showcasing ATHENA and demonstrating how it helps improve accuracy, save time and improve value for customers like Ennova and the whole glazing industry.”