Collaboration par excellence

Example: Hasselt City Hall, Belgium — The building of the new municipal administration center in Hasselt, Belgium, demonstrates how seamless collaboration in building projects can minimize risks and save costs from the design phase all the way to commissioning.
A joint project of several brands of the Nemetschek Group.
Nemetschek brands involved: Allplan, GRAPHISOFT, Solibri

Pioneering planning and project execution with Open BIM

“The end-to-end use of BIM solutions constitutes genuine added value for all stakeholders in the building process
because it enables seamless and efficient collboration”
Steven Hendrickx, Head Architect in Hasselt

Large-scale, highly complex building projects in particular require ongoing, reliable and efficient coodination between all stakeholders – both internal and external – across disciplines and between companies. Therefore, in association with other market players, the Nemetschek Group is promoting the Open BIM data standard. This is a universal, collaborative approach to designing, constructing and operating buildings based on open standards and workflows It makes it possible for project stakeholders to collaborate, even if the type of software varies from user to user. The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) interface has established itself as an open standard and is therefore of central significance.

Sharing and evaluating data throughout the entire product life cycle saves time and money and improves quality. The administration of data is key to this digital transformation, for it is only possible to take full advantage of the potential if each stakeholder can access the data that he or she needs at any given time. This begins with a realistic BIM building model, which is an essential prerequisite for a genuine 5D workflo. This model is no longer limited to just 3D construction data; it also includes data concerning the dimensions of time and costs.

Seamless collaboration exemplified by the Hasselt City Hall

Under the management of the architect team comprising Jaspers-Eyers, MASS Architects and Michel Janssen, a new municipal administration center is being built in Hasselt. The complex, consisting of a renovated building section and a new building, provides approx. 17,000 m2 for the city administration and social services as well as offices. The architects and their most important partners are using Open BIM software solutions for the entire construction process. Three Nemetschek solutions are being implemented for this project: Archicad from Graphisoft for the design and planning of the architects, Allplan Engineering for civil engineering, and the Solibri Model Checker for the BIM quality control carried out by the construction company.

From the beginning, all information concerning the building project is contained in the digital building model – from the draft to implementation – including all design details, desired materials, fire protection requirements, acoustic properties, insulation and building structures, and administration. This constitutes considerable added value for all stakeholders compared to the old standard model, which was purely 3D. Thus, this improvement ensures more than just seamless collaboration between all those involved. The complex project can be turned over to the municipality – the proud building owner – with the required quality, on time and within the specified budget.

Hasselt City Hall is groundbreaking – in terms of design, planning and project implementation.

Independent and yet consistent

Steven Hendrickx, the head architect in Hasselt, recognized four decisive factors with Open BIM over the course of the successful project:

  • Individual partners design their model with their preferred BIM software, and with their own templates. Outstanding collaboration is ensured, though, thanks to a common, uniform standard which is specified in advance.
  • The division of labor is defined at the beginning of the project. Data on statics, for instance, have an essential impact on the architecture and structural design. Data on heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, on the other hand, are also important but don’t generally flow directly into the architecture. These data, for example, can be sufficiently analyzed with the BIM solution for quality assurance from Solibri.
  • Design changes in one area don’t necessarily affect the plans of all the others involved in the project. The architecture and the building stage are inherently the most closely linked.
  • The expertise of the staff, i.e., extensive holistic knowledge of the various building disciplines, is also critical for the success of the project.

Two examples of the advantage of precise planning

In Hasselt, the construction company was commissioned with excavation, among other tasks. An assessment of the amount of sand that needed to be removed was done based on a cal culation using conventional 2D planning methods, which yielded a result of 800 cubic meters. The engineers used the Solibri Model Checker based on Open BIM and the data provided by the architects and arrived at a figue that was just half this amount, i.e., 400 cubic meters of sand. This shows how exact the work with Open BIM solutions can be.

The steel struts to be installed are another example: With the interface function IFC Exports from Allplan, it was possible to use the BIM model to automatically calculate which steel struts needed fieproofing. All it took was a mouse click to obtain precise results, right down to the running meter. In projects that don’t use Open BIM solutions, these calculations are made by manually entering the data from 2D drawings in Excel or some other software and then recalculating and evaluating the data for use in quotations and planning, a process that is susceptible to error and one that leaves a lot of room for interpretation. These errors often go undetected until the actual cost planning is already completed. In the case of the Hasselt City Hall,  it was possible to avoid such errors from the outset.

Converting to Open BIM pays off

As is the case with any change, it takes a certain amount of time for companies and employees to accept BIM as the norm. The best way, according to Steven Hendrickx, is to start out by planning smaller projects using BIM. The experience thereby gained will make it possible to complete successively larger BIM projects. The advantages of collaborating through Open BIM are obvious: The entire workflow is much simpler for all project stakeholders, and building projects are completed within time and cost budgets.

CONCLUSION

Consistent standards and open interfaces in par-ticular are essential for successful building projects. Stakeholders need solutions that can “work together” for all and any individual tasks being performed. Seamless collaboration between humans and machines: This is ensured with Open BIM, and backed by the brands of the Nemetschek Group.

Reference projects on this topic:

Nemetschek Group exceeds revenue forecast while maintaining high profitability

Corporate News News Company News

  • Significant double-digit growth in Group revenue of 17% to new record level of EUR 461 million
  • Disproportionately high growth in subscription revenues of over 60% to EUR 22 million
  • EBITDA rises to EUR 121 million; EBITDA margin of 26.3% within planned forecast range
  • High investment in future growth

Munich, February 6, 2019 – According to preliminary figures, 2018 was another exceptionally strong financial year for the Nemetschek Group (DE ISIN 0006452907), with clear double-digit revenue and earnings growth and a continuing high EBITDA margin. The growth target for operating margin was fully met, while the target for revenue growth was actually exceeded. At the same time, the world’s second largest provider of software solutions for the AEC industry invested in strategic projects and further internationalization to achieve continued double-digit growth in the future. 

Group revenue for the 2018 financial year as a whole rose by around 17% to EUR 461 million (previous year: EUR 395.6 million). This is above the forecast range of EUR 447 million to EUR 457 million. After adjusting for currency effects, Nemetschek showed even stronger revenue growth of 19%. Purely organic growth (excluding MCS Solutions, which was acquired last year) also increased significantly by 15% (adjusted for currency effects: +18%). Growth momentum accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2018, with revenue increasing by 23% to EUR 130 million (same quarter previous year: EUR 105.7 million). Organic growth was strong at 20%. Subscription revenues rose disproportionately both for the year as a whole, with growth of more than 60% to some EUR 22 million, and in the fourth quarter, doubling to EUR 7.6 million.

Consolidated operating earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation (EBITDA) were considerably higher than the previous year, at EUR 121 million (previous year: EUR 108.0 million). This means the EBITDA margin of 26.3% was exactly within the forecast range of 25% to 27%. At the same time, the Nemetschek Group made substantial investments as planned in strategic projects, such as further internationalization and next-generation solutions, so as to secure sustained double-digit growth for the future. EBITDA in Q4 rose to EUR 33 million, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 25.4%. This reflects the investments in strategic projects, the strategic acquisition to expand the Manage segment, and the acquired brand’s EBITDA margin, which is still below average.

“Once again, Nemetschek has demonstrated its operational strength. 2018 is the latest in a series of nine successive record years for revenue and earnings,” says Patrik Heider, Spokesman of the Executive Board and CFOO of the Nemetschek Group. “What matters to us is that we use this growth to make specific investments in our future, be it through new solutions, further internationalization or strategically important acquisitions.”

The detailed audited financial statements for the 2018 financial year, together with the 2018 annual report and the 2019 forecast, will be published as planned on Friday, March 29, 2019.

For further information about the company, please contact
Nemetschek Group
Stefanie Zimmermann
Investor Relations
+49 89 540459 250
szimmermann@nemetschek.com

About the Nemetschek Group
The Nemetschek Group is a pioneer in the digital transformation of the AEC industry. Nemetschek is the only corporate group in the world that covers the entire life cycle of construction and infrastructure projects and leads its customers into the future of digitalization. With intelligent and innovative software solutions, the Nemetschek Group increases quality in the building process and improves the workflow and the collaboration of all those involved. Thanks to the unique holding structure of the Nemetschek Group, its 16 strong brands can drive innovation and work closely with their 4 million customers worldwide. Founded by Prof. Georg Nemetschek in 1963, the Nemetschek Group today employs more than 2,500 experts. Listed on the stock market and noted in the MDAX and TecDAX since 1999, in 2018 the company achieved preliminary revenues of EUR 461 million and an EBITDA of EUR 121 million.

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