Where are the BIM high-flyers in Europe? What distinguishes digital construction planning in the various locations? What is missing where to move away from 2D models? The new series "BIMpressive" provides insights into the role that BIM and digital planning already play at the various Xella sites, and the opportunities and challenges that managers in the individual countries are facing.
 
"We are changing the industry! It's fun to accompany and drive this process," says BIM manager Pawel Górski. He joined Xella four years ago – at that time as the only BIM specialist in Poland. He now heads a team of seven employees. Although Xella Polska is already well positioned digitally, the Polish BIM team still has a long way to go: "The construction industry here is changing slowly, but things are moving forward and that is motivating", says Górski.

Xella is not only making an important contribution with its own BIM projects: The BIM manager also cares about his involvement in various professional national and international working groups. As a pioneer in the Polish construction industry, Xella has been involved in associations such as buildingSMART Poland and BIM Klaster for years in order to promote digital solutions on its own initiative together with other companies. "Poland has 40 million inhabitants, but experts in this field are still only about 150 or 200 in the country. For us, this is a very good opportunity to play a decisive role in shaping the process," explains Górski. About 15 to 20 percent of Xella orders in Poland are currently BIM-based, he estimates. With simplified digital collaboration, he believes there could be many more.

Digital collaboration needs standards in communication

There is one thing in particular that is slowing down the even faster spread of digital building projects in Poland: each architecture firm has its own way of modeling, classifying and naming building elements. So far, there is no obligation to create and share 3D models according to certain criteria: "This goes so far that some models are completely unusable for other parties involved," says Górski. "Often, it is then even easier for us to create our own model than to translate the existing one for us." Standards for export would be helpful here. It is only recently that the Polish government has also been actively promoting this: In May 2022, it launched an official working group to implement BIM. From Górski's point of view, this initiative to further develop the digital construction landscape was urgently needed, because despite all the efforts on the part of companies, he also believes that a central body is needed to establish universal standards for digital construction drawings. This would extremely simplify communication between architects, clients, investors and suppliers.

A showcase project on the Oder

In some projects, BIM is already working the way the Polish BIM manager dreams of: the Olimpia Port in Wroclaw was completed in 2021 using the blue.sprint digital planning service. The newly developed neighborhood directly on the Oder River now provides a home for 13,000 people. It was a memorable challenge for Górski and his team, and not just because of its scale: "It was a huge project, a completely new neighborhood. For our client, it was also a process of discovering the advantages of blue.sprint for themselves: although they started with 2D drawings and small-scale, we completed the project last year based on 3D models and large-scale. With our client, the communication worked great: He now only works with large formats and only exchanges information via 3D models."

New building materials and more 3D scans

In addition to working on construction projects such as Olimpia Port, the Polish BIM team is currently preparing to integrate new materials into the digital process, as the market for large-format construction grows. In 2023, system wall elements and YTONG panels are also to be produced in Poland. In addition, Górski's team is working with the construction services team to further establish 3D scans of wall elements - both for quality control and as-built documentation.
All these developments motivate BIM manager Górski to continue driving forward the digitization of the construction industry - whether within the company, in nationwide working groups or now also together with the government: "It's important that our industry continues to develop - and it's fun to be a part of it."