Announces First-Ever Filipino Designed Digital Building Information Management Solution; New Corporate Identity For New Opportunities Domestically and Internationally
The Manila Electric Company (“Meralco”) (PSE: MER) has partnered with ESCA Engineering, a leading full-service, technology-driven engineering consultancy, to retrofit key business centers across Metro Manila in order to improve their energy efficiency and disaster-resiliency.
Over a nearly two-year engagement period, ESCA Engineering will physically retrofit an initial fifteen (15) Meralco business centers to sustain additional weights for new solar panel installations while implementing other structural disaster-proof improvements.
“Our previous engagement with ESCA Engineering gave us the confidence to partner with them again in making sure our business centers are disaster-resilient, structurally ready for solar panel installations, and of 21st century quality,” said Mark Antolin M. Tan, Project Manager of Meralco.
ESCA Engineering will leverage its structural engineering expertise as well as technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) to ensure structural integrity of the buildings and on-time project delivery and consistent quality while monitoring all phases of the project digitally, in 24×7 real-time.
BIM enables creation and management of smart information across the entire design, build, and asset management life cycle. BIM enables developers to build faster, more efficiently, and with less wastage. ESCA Engineering was the first company to introduce BIM in the Philippines, back in 2013.
Meralco and ESCA Engineering have a history of successful prior collaboration when Meralco previously tapped ESCA for the retrofitting of its headquarters, the Meralco Lopez building. ESCA’s structural rehabilitation design and construction monitoring have ensured the durability and integrity of Meralco’s headquarters without sacrificing its iconic design and its operations.
“Meralco has been a trusted energy infrastructure backbone for the National Capital Region for generations of Filipinos, and we are grateful for their continued trust in ESCA Engineering. We are excited to deliver client value through significant engineering improvements across this initial group of customer-facing business centers,” said Atty. Jean de Castro, ESCA Engineering Chief Executive Officer.
“We trust ESCA Engineering’s recommendations for our retrofitting plans. The company’s record of innovative services ensures that the construction schedules will be met and the high-quality outcome we expect will be delivered,” said Tan.
Introducing the First Filipino-Designed, Digital BIM Innovation: ESCA Engineering’s Project Information Management 345D (PIM345D)
Part of the challenge for technological adaptation in the Philippines is the cost of technology licenses. To address this longstanding hurdle, ESCA Engineering announces today that it has developed a Filipino-homegrown digital BIM platform that fits right in the Philippines and other emerging markets.
The PIM345D digital BIM platform is an enterprise-level solution encompassing all BIM practices and processes. It is simpler in organization than foreign BIM data platforms but was designed and priced specifically to bridge the technology cost gaps and make BIM widely available for an emerging market such as the Philippines and elsewhere.
PIM345D empowers local and national government agencies, private developers, and project proponents with a digital solution within their budget that includes project management, design, construction, engineering, scheduling, resourcing, and cost management applications into a single integrated, connected, and mobile Project Information Management tool. The new platform enables clients to place the entire suite of applications needed to imagine, design, engineer, construct, and manage a project into one digital framework.
PIM345D is being rolled out internally at ESCA Engineering and selected clients. A planned public national and international market launch for ESCA Engineering’s PIM345D is scheduled for the first part of 2023, once extensive testing is completed.
Pricing information will be announced later as well, though, from the start PIM345D has been designed to bridge the digital gap: organizations and companies in countries such as the Philippines and elsewhere will be able to avail of a true BIM tool that is economically within reach.
A Renewed ESCA Engineering Ready to Lead a Digital Future
Since its founding in 1982, ESCA Incorporated has provided world-class services in structural engineering, BIM, project management, and civil works design for government, private developers and project proponents, playing a significant role in the development of the Philippines’ built environment. Some of the company’s past projects include the New Senate Building, SM Mall of Asia, IKEA, Meralco Lopez Building, Quad Aero Park, and the ongoing NLEX-SLEX Connector Road.
Now, after a nearly year-long comprehensive internal review and business restructuring process to enhance its role as a market leader as it prepares to expand its business footprint domestically and internationally, ESCA Engineering is more digitally focused and customercentric, guided by a strong sustainable and inclusive business agenda.
The renewed and revitalized company is now represented by a new visual identity and corporate brand name, ESCA Engineering, which also launches today.
“ESCA Engineering has built a strong reputation helping to improve the Philippines built environment. With accelerating market changes and new growth opportunities, we believe it is right to evolve towards a more digital and dynamic future. Our new visual identity reflects our reinvigoration for a new generation of growth and success,” said Dr. Ernesto de Castro, Founder & President of ESCA Engineering. “ESCA Engineering reflects who we are now and our focused business – a digitally driven and engineering-centric service firm, ready to seize new opportunities for our clients across the Philippines and around the world,” added Atty. Jean de Castro, ESCA Engineering Chief Executive Officer.
