Shop drawings
& detailing,
built to AISC 303.

Shop drawings are the production information a workshop and an erection team actually build from. They translate the approved design into the exact geometry of every piece: cutting lengths, hole positions, weld preparation, bolt sizes and grades, part marks and assembly marks.

They are not a redrawn version of the consultant's drawings. A consultant's general arrangement says what the structure is; shop drawings say how each piece is made, marked, delivered and put together on site.

Calculations establish the design: the loads on the structure, the member and connection requirements, and the strength, stability and serviceability checks that show it works. Shop drawings translate that approved design information into fabrication and erection information.

On most projects the two are sequential, and connection design is where they meet. Where a project delegates connection design to the fabricator, the calculation result drives the detail; where the consultant designs the connections, the detail follows their design. See structural design & calculations.

• General arrangement and erection drawings showing how the structure goes together;
• Assembly drawings for each fabricated assembly;
• Single-part drawings for the individual pieces;
• Anchor-bolt and base-plate setting-out drawings;
• Connection details, weld symbols and bolt schedules;
• A bill of materials and part marking;
• The associated model and machine files where the project calls for them.

The exact make-up is set by the project. See what we hand over above for the full list.

Yes. Erection and general arrangement drawings are what the site team sets out and builds from: grid lines and levels, the position and orientation of every assembly, erection marks, and the sequence and temporary stability requirements where those matter.

They are also the drawing the consultant reviews to confirm the detailed steelwork matches the design intent before anything is cut.

Yes, both. An assembly drawing shows a complete fabricated item, such as a beam with its end plates, stiffeners and cleats welded on, with the welds and the assembly mark. A single-part drawing shows one individual piece with its cutting length, hole positions, bevels and part mark.

The workshop works from both: single parts to cut and prepare the material, assemblies to fit and weld it together correctly.

Yes. Anchor-bolt setting-out drawings are usually the first thing issued on a project, because the bolts have to be cast or fixed before the steel arrives and a setting-out error there is expensive to correct later.

The drawings give bolt positions relative to the grid, projection, embedment where relevant, and the base-plate arrangement each group serves. Where the base-plate and anchor design itself falls within our scope, that sits with structural calculations.

Yes. We support Tekla Structures project workflows for structural steel detailing in Dubai, together with AutoCAD and Advance Steel workflows for 2D detailing and consultant coordination, and SOLIDWORKS workflows for bespoke parts that sit outside a structural model.

Working this way keeps the model as the source: drawings, part marks, the bill of materials and the machine files are all derived from it, so a change is made once and carries through. Native-format model deliverables can be provided where included in the agreed project scope. See the CAD and BIM workflow question below for the full picture.

Yes. DSTV NC1 files are exported from the detailing model for the beam and tube line, and DXF nests are produced for the lasers, so the machine cuts from the same geometry the drawing was taken from rather than from a re-keyed copy.

Where a project is being fabricated elsewhere, these files can form part of the issued package. What is included is agreed in the project scope.

On projects with an appointed consultant, yes. The normal cycle is that drawings are issued for approval, the consultant reviews and returns them with comments or a status, the comments are incorporated, and the drawings are re-issued as approved for construction before material is cut.

The approval status and the review period are set by the project and the consultant's appointment, not by us, and we plan the detailing programme around them. Fabricating ahead of approval is a commercial risk that sits with whoever instructs it.

Under AISC 303 Section 4 (Plans and Specifications), the structural engineer of record (SER) issues the general arrangement drawings: member sizes, grades, loads and the typical connection details. The fabricator’s detailer then produces the shop drawings (piece-marked assembly and single-part drawings, weld symbols to AWS A2.4, bolt schedules, anchor-bolt setting plans and erection sequence) and submits them back to the SER for review and approval.

AISC 303 is explicit: the SER reviews shop drawings for general conformance with the design intent; the fabricator is responsible for accurate fits, dimensions and quantities. The same split is codified in BS EN 1090-1 Annex A and the EXC class requirements of BS EN 1090-2.

Reference: AISC 303-22 Code of Standard Practice for Steel Buildings and Bridges

• Tekla Structures project environments for the primary structural BIM model, IFC export and DSTV NC1 output to the beam/tube line;
• AutoCAD and Advance Steel workflows for 2D detailing and consultant coordination, including projects where the general arrangement arrives as a DWG file;
• SOLIDWORKS project environments for bespoke parts: helical balustrades, sculpture armatures, sheet-metal flat patterns and complex tube intersections that sit outside a structural detailing model;
• Navisworks-based project environments for federated model coordination and clash review between structural steel, RCC, MEP and architecture;
• The project CDE, whichever the client nominates, for ISO 19650-compliant information delivery.

• AISC 303 (Code of Standard Practice) for the scope split, approval cycle, and tolerance rules between SER, fabricator and erector;
• BS EN 1090-1 / -2 for execution of steel structures, including the execution class (EXC1–4), inspection plan and CE marking documentation requirements;
• AWS A2.4 & AWS A3.0 for welding symbols and weld terminology on drawings;
• ISO 128 & ISO 129-1 for technical drawing conventions and dimensional tolerancing;
• ISO 5817 for weld quality levels (B / C / D) called up by the consultant against EXC class;
• BS EN ISO 13920 for general weld tolerances;
• ISO 19650-1 / -2 for the BIM information management workflow on collaboratively delivered projects.

Working under ISO 19650 we deliver to the project’s BIM Execution Plan (BEP):

• Native-format model deliverables can be provided where included in the agreed project scope, for full coordination handback;
• IFC 2x3 / IFC 4 export for federation in Navisworks, Solibri or the project’s nominated review environment;
• LOD/LOI compliance: typically LOD 300 at design issue, LOD 400 at fabrication issue, and LOD 500 (as-built) at handover, with the LOI (Level of Information) matrix agreed against the BEP;
• Clash reports in BCF or PDF, resolved revision-by-revision;
• COBie or asset data export where the client’s Asset Information Requirements (AIR) call for it.

Reference: ISO 19650-1:2018, Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works including BIM

1. GA receipt & review: consultant’s stamped general arrangement, structural calc summary, architect’s elevations and BEP/AIR if a BIM job;
2. Structural model development and coordination for Tekla Structures project environments against the approved GA, with connection design to AISC 360 (or Eurocode 3) for the typical details called up in the consultant’s specification;
3. Internal squad check: second detailer reviews the model and approval-set drawings before issue;
4. Approval issue to the consultant: assembly drawings, anchor-bolt setting plan, erection sequence, bolt schedule, weld map;
5. Consultant review and comments incorporation, typically one or two cycles;
6. AFC (Approved for Construction) issue to the workshop floor: single-part drawings, DSTV NC1 files, DXF nests, paint/HDG schedule;
7. Erection package issue to site with marked-up sequence and lifting points;
8. As-built capture of any site variations back into the federated model for handover.