KES Group

Company background

Established in 2009, KES Group has grown to become a sector leader in the design, manufacture, and assembly of modular building solutions and in the provision of specialist energy services. With over 5,500 successful installations, clients place their trust in their reputation as leaders of this market – a reputation KES Group don’t take lightly.

With successful projects spanning across the Education, Healthcare, Government, Retail, Hospitality and Commercial sectors, the company has expanded its operational scope to offer SMARTBUILDS that transform the way their customers work and do business. They bring together a dynamic and unrivalled team of surveyors, engineers, designers, and project managers to deliver a new generation of precision-engineered SMARTBUILDS that are ultra-high-specification, fully relocatable and efficient across all sectors of industry. Striving to surpass the expectations of their clients in every project they manage, KES Group is proud to construct all of its SMARTBUILDS in one of the largest and most advanced offsite construction facilities seen anywhere in the UK or Ireland.

Challenge

KES Group had previously completed a project with the colleges Product Design Centre (PDC) to better understand 3D CAD capability’s and use them to their fullest potential. As a result of that project they established solid workflows but wanted to innovate further, by harnessing the power of Extended Reality and creating fully immersive 3D augmentations of their builds.

Solution

To assist and make their idea a reality, KES Group contacted the NWRC XR Hub who supported them through the InnovateUs programme which is funded by Department for the Economy.

NWRC Creative & Digital Media Technical Consultant, Aaron McKeever, provided 60 hours of upskilling support in 3D CAD, importing models, adding lighting & materials, optimizing models for Augmented Reality and Testing on both the Microsoft Hololens and mobile devices.

Impact

The company was able to successfully develop Extended Reality Simulations for their Smartbuild Systems which allows them to effectively display their modular housing to clients and designers before physical construction.

Future

Brandon Mullan, Architectural Technologist at KES Group described the benefits of working with NWRC’s XR Hub via the Department for the Economy InnovateUs Programme: “The training in Augmented and Virtual Reality 3D modelling that we received from the XR Hub at NWRC was very informative and beneficial. We created realistic conceptual 3D models and with the high-spec equipment provided, had the capabilities to visualise and walk through the finished product in place before construction even begins.”