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Munich (dpa) - Shortly before the end of the election period, the grand coalition has not yet completed its ambitious plans to digitize construction in Germany.
The step-by-step plan of the Ministry of Transport for the introduction of digital construction planning in the federal infrastructure projects has been delayed, but not only because politics is too slow.
A buzzword that has been discussed in the construction and real estate industry for years is BIM, the English abbreviation for building information modeling.
Behind the technocratic jargon is the digital planning of a building project: Before the first excavator approaches, the building is erected on the computer and the data is made available to everyone involved.
This can help prevent expensive breakdowns.
Once the project is finished, the data can be used for operation.
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"Unfortunately, the construction industry is one of the most wasteful of all," says Axel Hoffmann, CEO of the Munich-based Nemetschek Group, a leading software provider for the construction industry.
“It is estimated that ninety percent of all construction projects break the originally planned timeline.
There are inefficiencies in communication, planning and cooperation. "
As a software company, Nemetschek has a self-interest in the digitization of the building industry, but Hoffmann is by no means alone in his assessment.
“It is assumed that with the help of BIM, up to a quarter of the construction time can be saved, which of course also reduces costs,” says Rebekka Berbner, construction specialist at the management consultancy PwC.
However, so far this is only an estimate: "As this involves the use of new technologies, there are still no reliable empirical values," adds Berbner.
The main association of the construction industry would like to see a faster pace in the federal construction digitization plans: "Progress is slow," says spokeswoman Inga Stein-Barthelmes.
«We would like to see more pilot projects in order to advance the topic together.
We should finally get down to business and not just talk. "
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The advantages of digitization in the construction industry are obvious: "Several parties are already involved in the planning phase: architect, structural engineer, civil engineer, landscape planner", says Nemetschek board spokesman Hoffmann.
“This is why we need software that is always better coordinated in the planning and design area.
This requires open standards and interfaces.
It must also be possible to process the data from the planners during the construction phase.
In a construction project, 30, 40 or more companies are involved, that's quite normal. "
Even with a comparatively small project, a lot can go wrong, as almost every homeowner in Germany knows.
The bigger a project, the greater the breakdown potential.
"If the building owner notices at the beginning of the construction phase that he still needs barrier-free access, the plan has to be rescheduled," says Hoffmann.
“Then it can happen that the entire construction site is idle.
Such delays cause construction projects to get out of hand in terms of cost, timing and accuracy. "
If digital planning is carried out immediately, the same data can be used to build and the finished structure can be operated later.
The federal government is also aware of this.
Former Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt published a BIM step-by-step plan in 2015, according to which the digital construction method should become standard in public transport construction projects in 2020.
However, like many construction projects, the BIM plan has also been delayed.
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"The organizational adjustments required for the use of the BIM method in the administration - but also on the contractor side - have largely but not yet been completed," says a spokesman for the ministry.
However, there are already several major projects in which BIM has been used, including the expansion and construction of the Karlsruhe-Basel railway line and several motorway sections.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior is responsible for building construction, but it left a request unanswered.
The fact that the Ministry of Transport's BIM step-by-step plan has been delayed is not just down to politics.
There is also some catching up to do in the construction industry.
“There is a discrepancy between the potential of digitization that companies see and what has actually happened so far,” says PwC specialist Berbner.
"In a direct comparison, the planners are further in digitization than the construction companies."
The planners mainly include architects, structural engineers and civil engineers.
"Ideally, the federal government would require a digital twin for all public building projects from the start so that everything that has been done is still clearly documented in twenty years," says Nemetschek boss Hoffmann.
“There are also major inefficiencies in building operations.
Imagine a large thirty year old building with a thousand jobs that needs to be remodeled.
Who still knows where what was installed and why? "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210202-99-264362 / 2