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 records strongest quarterly growth of the past few years at +27% with high profitability

Corporate News News Company News

  • Excellent start to 2019
  • +27.1% revenue growth to EUR 129.9 million in Q1 2019
  • +33.9% growth in recurring revenues, driven by subscription models (+124.8%)
  • Strong growth also affirmed for year 2019 as a whole

Munich, April 30, 2019 – After an outstanding fiscal 2018, the Nemetschek Group (ISIN DE 0006452907) has now achieved its strongest quarterly growth of the past few years while maintaining high profitability. At the same time, the top player in the global AEC market is continuing to invest substantially in strategic projects and further internationalization to enable continued double-digit growth in the future. 

“We’ve made an outstanding start to the year and achieved an exceptionally strong first quarter. Our strategic investments in next-generation solutions and further internationalization are paying off,” says Patrik Heider, Spokesman and CFOO of the Nemetschek Group. “In addition to our future-oriented investments, our new management structure enables us to act even more decisively in the market and in our various customer segments,” Heider adds, “meaning we’ve set the course for this strong performance to continue into the future.”

 

Major indicators of the Group’s success in Q1 2019

  • Group revenue rose in the first quarter to EUR 129.9 million, which represents growth of 27.1% (currency-adjusted: 23.2%) compared to the same quarter of the previous year (EUR 102.2 million). This increase is a result of both strong organic growth of 21.3% and the recent acquisition of the Spacewell brand.
  • Growth drivers were recurring revenues from software service contracts and subscriptions, which rose by 33.9% (currency-adjusted: 30.0%) to EUR 67.7 million. Revenue from subscriptions increased considerably by 124.8% from EUR 4.3 million to EUR 9.7 million.
  • Ongoing internationalization remains another major driver of growth. Revenues generated abroad in Q1 grew by 32.7% to EUR 95.0 million. And in Germany, too, Nemetschek achieved double-digit revenue growth of 14.0%.  
  • Consolidated operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) increased by 31.4% to EUR 36.7 million. This represents an EBITDA margin of 28.2%. The increase was partly boosted by the first application of the new IFRS 16 standard for the accounting of leasing contracts. Adjusted for this effect, the EBITDA would have increased by 18.5%, which is equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 25.5%. In the first quarter of 2019, Nemetschek also invested as planned in strategic projects. In addition, the growth-related increase in the number of employees up to the end of last year led to a noticeable increase in personnel costs. Furthermore, in the Manage segment, the acquired Spacewell brand’s still below-average EBITDA margin (due primarily to the acquisition costs) had an impact on the operating result in Q1.
  • Net income for the quarter also increased substantially by 19.7% to EUR 19.6 million (same period in previous year: EUR 16.4 million). Earnings per share came to EUR 0.51 (Q1 2018: EUR 0.43).
     

Segment performance in Q1 2019

In segment reporting, the Solibri brand, which had been allocated to the Build segment up to the end of 2018, was reclassified to the Design segment as of 2019. The previous year’s values in segment reporting were adjusted accordingly.

  • As in the previous quarters, the Build segment recorded the strongest revenue growth, increasing by 34.7% (currency adjusted: 27.0%) to EUR 40.2 million. EBITDA rose by 36.0% to EUR 12.8 million, resulting in a high EBITDA margin of 31.8% (previous year: 31.5%). Without the first-ever application of IFRS 16, the EBITDA margin would have been 28.4%.
  • The Design segment recorded very pleasing revenue growth of 15.1% (currency adjusted: 12.8%) to EUR 74.3 million, due in part to a rise in demand prompted by BAU, the world’s leading trade fair for the building sector, which took place in January. At 36.0%, the increase in EBITDA to EUR 21.2 million was notably disproportionate to revenue and equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 28.5% (adjusted for IFRS 16: 26.1%; same period in previous year: 24.1%).
  • The Manage segment was significantly reinforced through the acquisition of Spacewell. Revenues increased from EUR 2.0 million in the same period the previous year to EUR 8.2 million. Purely organic revenue growth amounted to 11.7%. In this segment, EBITDA was EUR -0.2 million due to acquisition costs (Q1 2018: EUR 0.4 million). Adjusted for approximately EUR 1.5 million in acquisition costs, the EBITDA margin would amount to 15.6%.
  • The Media & Entertainment segment was able to substantially accelerate its growth compared to the previous year. Revenues climbed by 23.9% (currency-adjusted: 19.9%) to EUR 7.2 million. In spite of high acquisition costs for Redshift, EBITDA increased by 13.7% to EUR 2.9 million, which is equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 40.7% (without IFRS 16: 39.4%).
     

Strong growth also affirmed for year 2019 as a whole

After the very strong start to the year, the Executive Board reaffirms the existing growth targets for the year 2019 as a whole, that is: achieving Group revenue in the region of EUR 540 million to 550 million, which represents growth of 17% to 19% year on year. 

In view of renewed high, future-oriented investment and the still below-average EBITDA margin in the Manage segment, the EBITDA margin is expected to stay within the range of 25% to 27%. This range does not reflect the effects from the changeover to the new IFRS 16* leasing standard. Including the positive effects from the application of IFRS 16, the Nemetschek Group expects an EBITDA margin of between 27% and 29% for 2019.

* The new IFRS 16 accounting standard, according to which leases of any type (operate leasing and finance leasing) must always be recognized in the balance sheet, must be adopted for the first time as of January 1, 2019. The Nemetschek Group anticipates this change to have a positive effect of around EUR 13 million to 14 million on EBITDA. The Nemetschek Group will present the effects of IFRS 16 on EBITDA in detail in the quarterly reports. 

 

KPIs in quarterly summary

in EUR million

Q1 2019

Q1 2018

Δ in %

Δ in % (FX-adj)

Revenue

129.9

102.2

  +27.1%

+23.2%

– of which software licenses

55.0

47.3

+16.4%

+12.3%

– of which recurring revenues

67.7

50.6

+33.9%

+30.0%

– Subscription 
(part of recurring revenues)

9.7

4.3

+124.8%

+118.3%

EBITDA

36.7

27.9

+31.4%

+24.8%

Margin

28.2%

27.3%

 

 

EBITDA adjusted for IFRS 16

33.1

27.9

+18.5%

+11.9%

Adjusted margin

25.5%

27.3%

 

 

EBITA (normalized EBIT)

30.9

26.0

+18.9%

 

Margin

23.8%

25.4%

 

 

Net income (Group shares)

19.6

16.4

+19.7%

 

Earnings per share in EUR

0.51

0.43

+19.7%

 

Net income (Group shares) before PPA amortization 

22.9

19.1

   +20.0%

 

Earnings per share before amortization from purchase price allocation (PPA) in EUR

0.59

0.50

  +20.0%

 

 

 

KPIs in quarterly summary

 

in EUR million

Q1 2019

Q1 2018

Δ in %

Δ in % (FX-adj)

Design

 

 

 

 

Revenue

74.3

64.6

+15.1%

+12.8%

EBITDA

21.2

15.6

+36.0%

+30.8%

Margin

28.5%

24.1%

 

 

Build

 

 

 

 

Revenue

40.2

29.8

+34.7%

+27.0%

EBITDA

12.8

9.4

+36.0%

+25.4%

Margin

31.8%

31.5%

 

 

Manage

 

 

 

 

Revenue

8.2

2.0

+302.9%

+302.6%

EBITDA

-0.2

0.4

-160.6%

-162.9%

Margin

-2.6%

17.6%

 

 

Media & Entertainment

 

 

 

 

Revenue

7.2

5.8

+23.9%

+19.9%

EBITDA

2.9

2.6

+13.7%

+9.5%

Margin

40.7%

44.3%

 

 

The full 3-month report for 2019 can be downloaded from the Investor Relations section of the company’s website.


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. With its software solutions, Nemetschek is the only corporate group in the world that covers the entire lifecycle of construction and infrastructure projects and guides its customers into the future of digitalization. With its smart software solutions, the Nemetschek Group enhances the quality of the construction process and improves the digital workflow for everyone involved. At the heart of this is the use of open standards (Open BIM). More than five million users worldwide apply the innovative solutions of the 16 brands in the four customer-oriented divisions. Founded by Prof. Georg Nemetschek in 1963, the Nemetschek Group today employs more than 2,600 experts. Publicly traded since 1999 and listed on the MDAX and TecDAX, in 2018 the company achieved revenue of EUR 461.3 million and an EBITDA of EUR 121.3 million.

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