Why the Workflow Matters More Than the Software
Clash detection software (Navisworks and similar tools) is widely used on UAE projects, but the software itself only finds geometric overlaps — the actual value comes from a disciplined workflow around it: who reviews clashes, how they're prioritised, and how resolution is tracked and verified, not just running a clash report and distributing it.
Categorising Clashes by Severity
- Hard clashes — physical geometric overlap requiring immediate resolution before construction
- Soft clashes — clearance/access violations (e.g. insufficient maintenance access to an ELV panel) that may not stop construction but create operational problems later
- Workflow clashes — sequencing conflicts where one trade's install depends on another's completion in an impractical order
Coordination Meeting Cadence
Regular, structured coordination meetings — typically weekly or bi-weekly during active design coordination — where each discipline reviews and commits to resolving assigned clashes before the next cycle, keeps clash counts trending down rather than accumulating unresolved issues until a crisis point near construction issue.
Tracking Resolution, Not Just Detection
ASDV tracks ELV-related clashes to actual model resolution and re-verification, not just a status flag marked "resolved" without confirming the updated model genuinely clears the clash — a common failure mode where clashes are marked closed prematurely and resurface later in construction.