ABSTRACT
Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) provides wastewater conveyance and treatment services for 1.7 million people in southeast Virginia. Since 2017, HRSD has used Virtual Reality (VR) design reviews on more than 20 projects because of how accessible VR makes designs to every level within an organization, including the operations and maintenance staff responsible for maintaining the completed project. However, VR is not necessarily appropriate for all projects. This paper uses a recent HRSD project to show how HRSD approaches the use of VR, to what extent it is used, and how HRSD focuses on the operation and maintenance aspects of the designs during reviews. The paper also highlights features of the VR software, design-review best practices, limitations of two-dimensional design, how standard details can be incorporated into the model, and the added value from use of the internet-based, real-time reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person meetings were impossible. Copyright © 2022 Water Environment Federation.