How does BIM influence window, facade, and door construction?

BIM is a digital planning method that expands the content, processes and legal responsibilities for all the participants in a project. It also provides a tremendous degree of technological detail in the form of geometric visualisation options, specifications of important partial information on products, processes, the people involved and language information.

Read about why it’s important to take a closer look at BIM in window, facade, and door construction and the benefits and challenges associated with it.

"Felix Pakleppa, Managing Director of the Central Association of the German Construction Industry (ZDB), affirmed on the organisation’s Web site: “Intense collaboration among those involved in a construction project requires that architects, planners, and contractors understand each other’s perspectives. Working with BIM makes it possible to avoid costly errors and collisions thanks to timely coordination.”

Skilled crafts in construction win with BIM!

BIM changes the planning culture, and to varying degrees it’s also finding its way into the timber, window, and facade sectors. One of the goals of BIM is the ongoing and comprehensive use of building plans throughout the building’s lifecycle – from planning and approval to construction and demolition.

In light of the workload reductions associated with consistently digitised workflows, all companies in the building trade urgently need to examine whether and how the use of BIM makes sense for their daily operations for everything from planning and execution to maintenance and facility management.

According to a joint survey by BITKOM and ZDH, as many as 36 percent of companies in the construction and finishing trades consider the use of BIM to be “extremely important.” Only 16 percent see the importance of BIM as “low” or “very low.”

Dr Constantin Terton, Head of the Economic Policy Department of the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts (ZDH), said: “Given stricter climate protection requirements, interrupted supply chains, material bottlenecks, the lack of skilled workers and the high standards of residential construction, it makes sense for our construction and finishing trades to make new construction and finishing as efficient as possible. This is done by exploiting the full potential of tools like the BIM software.”

Digital twins: Additional services and added value!

The digital twin of an object – whether it’s a machine, technical installation, complete building, or even a city like Munich – is built from the BIM data of the object’s individual parts.

Anyone working with BIM and a digital twin knows exactly what awaits them in “reality”: What components were used? Which materials were used? What maintenance and repairs have been performed and by whom during the lifecycle so far? This makes it possible to eliminate errors, damage, and unnecessary cost factors or to prevent them in advance.

For the digital twin of a building, for example, detailed data – from planning and approval to development throughout its entire lifecycle and demolition – is collected and made available to stakeholders.

BIM-based 3D presentations cause “wow” effects and highlight safety aspects!

The digital preparation and the planning and implementation of construction using BIM raise your digital presentations to a whole new level. Customers love this: Detailed 3D visualisations of the finished project seen through data goggles always trigger a decisive “wow.”

The goal of planning and construction using BIM is transparency and traceability! The digitalization of construction and fire protection planning creates order instead of mountains of paper. It also makes it possible to better comply with rules and regulations and to review and verify their observance. Ultimately, fire protection and rescue workers also benefit. If they’re able to access BIM data, for example, the fire department’s plans will always be completely up to date and they’ll be less likely to encounter structural surprises.

At the PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DIGITISATION for Craftspeople Forum being held at FENSTERBAU FRONTALE + HOLZHANDWERK 2024, you can attend expert interviews that will show you how you can prepare your company for BIM, what services and added value this will enable you to offer, and what (additional) digital solutions or work methods you’ll need to introduce.

For information on all the practical interviews and discussions, including times and information on participants, consult the event schedule for the A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DIGITISATION Forum that will be held from 19 to 22 March 2024.