Planning the entire life cycle of a construction project

Building Information Monitoring (BIM) for managing complex construction projects

The implementation of construction projects in hard-to-reach regions is made much easier by digital technologies: BIM technology has enabled many things in this area. At the conference organized by KfW and BMZ at the beginning of February 2023, experts explained how Building Information Modelling works.

On the screen, a stylised bar turns red as Tilo Nemuth, Managing Director of Julius Berger International GmbH, updates the data. Here the computer indicates a conflict between the bar and the passage of a drainage pipe. Fortunately, the building – it is a church in Nigeria – is not yet under construction. Tilo Nemuth works in a virtual representation of the real building. He can anticipate planning errors and correct them in time.

“In complex buildings like these, all stakeholders in the project can collaborate on Building Information Modelling,” Nemuth points out the advantages. BIM potentially allows for great cost and time savings. The programme creates and updates extensive documents such as the bill of quantities and price lists in no time at all.

Further advantages of BIM: It simulates the construction process and thus allows realistic time planning. Reporting is also automated. Florian Höllerhage, Principal Civil Engineer at Pinnacle Ingenieurbüro GmbH, explains that a BIM model can, for example, send information to an excavator, which then carries out the excavation autonomously. “The excavator operator only sits in the cabin for safety reasons,” Höllerhage clarifies. His company is planning and supervising the construction of a warehouse on the Royal Docks in London. Photos of the construction site are continuously fed into BIM and allow construction progress to be monitored remotely.

BIM can accompany a construction project throughout its entire life cycle, from design and planning to the implementation and coordination of building management tasks. The basis of success here is excellent cooperation between all project partners.

Yannick Scheid from KfW mentioned the construction and operation of hospitals, power plants or exhibitions in visitor centres of national parks as possible applications. With the help of a “digital representation”, the respective object can first be virtually simulated on the computer and interactively optimised before it is built on site. “The technology has the potential to revolutionise the entire construction industry,” concludes Scheid. “This can contribute to achieving SDG 9 more quickly.”