The 9th BIM User Day, organized annually by buildingSMARTtook place on May 24, 2012 at the Fraunhofer InHaus Center in Duisburg and was supported this year by Hochtief ViCon. Between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., specialists from all areas of the construction industry presented their experiences with Building Information Modeling. In addition to many interesting ideas and suggestions, one thing was clear at the end of the day: Germany still has a long way to go.
The UK government's decision to make BIM mandatory for all publicly commissioned projects over €5 million from 2016 was mentioned right at the start.
In Germany - unthinkable at the moment. The presentations and the subsequent discussions show exactly why.
In the first block of presentations, Dirk Schaper, Managing Director of Hochtief ViConabout the great success of BIM in the Middle East. Hochtief ViCon is a software-independent BIM consultant specializing in customer-specific system integration. A BIM-supported production system, in which all changes throughout the entire project process are synchronized in a central database, could have saved Berlin Airport from a major debacle if it had been properly maintained - this point is also repeatedly taken up and confirmed by other speakers. Since the reason for the delay in the completion of Berlin Airport seems to lie primarily in inconsistent planning, this suspicion is obvious. But for me, the question arises as to how it can be that while companies based in Germany such as Hochtief ViCon are successfully managing major projects in Qatar, Berlin Airport is apparently a disaster without proper BIM management? We seem to have enough expertise in this country, but what good is it if we primarily export it and build "at home" as we did 20 years ago?
The mobile data entry for acceptance or photo documentation presented by Mr. Schaper, which is carried out on the construction site via the iPad and automatically synchronized with the central data server, also shows very clearly once again that the BIM approach not only fundamentally changes the way of thinking but also the filing system and also simplifies it considerably after successful conversion.
However, like any other major changeover, this also requires a "conductor" - in this case the BIM manager, who acts as a system integrator to ensure that all the benefits of integrated data management are utilized. This support ranges from employee training, content definition and process definition to data verification.
In the second block of lectures, Mirjam Borowietz from the ZWP Berlin, the use of BIM for the planning of technical building services and data exchange via the IFC format in practice, based on the model project Gesundheitscampus NRW, which was carried out with the architectural firm Léon Wohlhage Wernik. It is well known that there is no "universal BIM software" that covers all planning areas; moreover, it cannot be assumed in practice that all planning partners use the software from the same manufacturer. This makes it particularly important to further develop the IFC format and ensure that the data exchange of complex building models functions reliably and easily.
As Ms. Borowietz demonstrated using the very clear example, the data exchange at the end of the project worked without any problems and the learning effect was very important for future projects and for all those involved in planning. When it comes to BIM, the learning curve is often underestimated in practice - due not only to new software but also to a completely new way of thinking and still relatively few reference projects and experienced users.
The third lecture that particularly impressed me was that of the Tyrolean master builder Anton Gasteiger and founder of the b.i.m.m. GmbH - he began his presentation with the words: "it took the Catholic Church 400 years to switch from 2d to 3d", implying the question of how long it will take the construction industry to switch from 2d to BIM. Mr. Gasteiger is undoubtedly a great BIM enthusiast who has simply jumped in at the deep end without much ifs and buts - and is excellent at staying on the surface. His approach is based on the principle of "what you model is what you get" and makes it very clear that we should perhaps talk a little less about BIM and simply do more. It is impossible to foresee all the hurdles, but progress also requires the courage to take them on.
Mention should definitely be made of the presentation by Hans-Georg Oltmanns from Büro Oltmanns & Partner and professor at the Jade University in Oldenburg, who provided some very interesting food for thought. Under the motto "How much tradition prevents innovation", he explained the main reason why Germany is still lagging far behind internationally in the BIM sector. The bottom line is: "If you don't dare, you won't discover anything new". Mr. Oltmanns also underlined once again the importance of a clean IFC interface and the BIM approach in general, stating that words always remain ambiguous - an intelligent building model, on the other hand, cannot be misinterpreted.
Further links:
www.baulinks.de - Report from the 9th BIM User Day at the Fraunhofer-inHaus Center
www.buildingsmart.de - Presentations for download in PDF format
German 
English