Software for Architecture, Engineering and Construction

CYPE has entered the construction materials distribution sector after developing the OMEGA2 software that the company Saint-Gobain Distribution is using in the Regional Technical Centres (RTC) of its POINT.P brand in France, to carry out the structural analysis, the quantities and the cost estimate of concrete and masonry structures of single family dwellings requested by professionals who buy from the company’s stores.

With more than 800 stores, Point.P is the leading company in the distribution of construction materials in France, with a wide range of products for structures, brickwork, plaster, insulation, trusses and roofs, external and internal carpentry, floorings and facings, electricity, plumbing and more.

Among the professional services that POINT.P offers to its customers, the creation of optimised cost estimates and execution plans for concrete and masonry structures in single family dwelling projects stands out. In France this is known as “major construction work”, which includes slabs, load bearing walls, columns and foundations. These studies carried out by the RTC are adjusted according to the shop where the customer buys and the elements stored locally.

It is in this field that CYPE has contributed its knowledge and developed an analysis, quantities and cost estimates tool for single family dwellings with structures consisting of one-way joist floor and hollow block slabs. As Carlos Fernández, Technical Director of CYPE explains, the development and adaptation of the software tool to the needs of Point.P and the French market has required a considerable amount of effort, in particular with regards to the specific building typologies in France, since the signing of the collaboration agreement between CYPE and POINT.P (Saint-Gobain Distribution France) in 2017.

For Baudouin De La Bretesche, Director of the Concrete and Masonry structures, Public Works, Carpentry, Facings and Finishes Division, “CYPE has been able to respond to the specific nature of our needs and has been the best option when it comes to renewing the tool we have been using over the last 15 years, which needed to be updated in terms of codes and techniques, as well as to connect with the new information systems we had internally developed, such as the product databases.”

More than 15,000 studies have already been carried out from June to December 2019, the year in which the application was launched in POINT.P’s technical services. “In addition to its simple and modern graphic interface for modelling, the OMEGA2 software has enabled us to be more productive and draw up more accurate estimates based on the structural analysis and quantities”. The collaboration continues to progress, as POINT.P has asked CYPE to add new features to the tool for a new version that will be available in spring 2020.

Finally, another important point of the software developed by CYPE is that it allows users to work directly within a structural digital model, and will have a connection for Open BIM collaborative work with the IFC exchange format. The use of this technology and work methodology opens up a new communication channel with single family dwelling constructors, architects and consulting offices

POINT.P, leader in the distribution of construction materials in France

POINT.P is the leading company in the distribution of construction materials in France, with a total of 852 stores in the country and approximately 11,000 employees. The POINT.P Company has been a part of Saint-Gobain since 1996, a world leader in sustainable housing with more than 170,000 employees in 66 countries. The SAINT-GOBAIN group is one of the 100 most innovative companies in the world.

CYPE develops a program for Saint-Gobain Distribution for the structural analysis and quantity measurement of the materials used in the Regional Technical Centres of the POINT.P brand

POINT.P, leader in the distribution of construction materials in France