By year-end 2025, Xella Belgium counted 126 Blue.sprint projects. Belgium accounted for around 8% of the total European market in 2025. BIM manager Stefaan Du-Tré knows that a lot has happened in recent years to make this possible. "It has definitely paid off," he says. “We are seeing a big jump in Belgium,” he adds, pointing to the increasing proportion of blue.sprint projects among the project business:
2020: approximately 20%
2023: approximately 25%
2025: approximately 45% 
After coordinating BIM projects for years, he identified several contributing factors. "Customers became more involved with BIM, and we improved our reporting. Most importantly, we introduced new drawing methods for engineers and brought the concept of BIM to more departments."

Optimizing Efficiency in Model Checking
A critical milestone in every BIM project is the model check. This is a systematic quality assurance process in which digital building models are checked for errors, conflicts, and compliance with regulations, where results are shared directly with customers in an interactive format. Nowadays, Du-Tré and his colleagues can check the building's geometry beforehand, making the drawing process quicker and more efficient. "Over the years, we have optimized the model checks based on real-world scenarios," the BIM manager determined. 
How they made this possible:
Automated advice: Issues are now automatically generated and slides are auto-populated with correct values, whereas previously this was manual work.
Quick check system: Acts as a "safety net" to catch unusable models early, preventing the team from spending a full hour on models that clearly won't work.
Improved clash detection system: Provides a more efficient workflow for identifying conflicts which are relevant for Xella.
Automated comparisons: Rules that automatically compare models and highlight differences, rather than requiring manual review of each wall.
"This also takes the pressure off the team," says Du-Tré. By listening to feedback from our team, we noticed that models regularly had information missing or incorrect. Introducing the quick check saves the team time and stress because missing or incorrect data is communicated to customers via automated emails beforehand.

Draftsmen Getting BIM‑Compatible

Traditional drafting is done with 2D plans and fragmented information, using floor plans for architecture, structure, and level determination, plus cross-sections. Since each floor plan or elevation view requires its own drawing, draftsmen usually have seven to eight drawings open at the same time to see the entire building. Now, one model unites them all. This fundamental change in workflow means less preparation for draftsmen. Instead of entering data manually, they overlap the Xella model with the customer's model and identify discrepancies. After importing the customer's model, the program automatically alerts the draftsmen to any differences they need to check.
The draftsmen at the Xella drawing office in Belgium and Sofia are well-trained in BIM, partly through training in Belgium. A dedicated training using a pilot project was used to provide training for Belgian BIM projects, taking into account the country's specific conditions and regulations. The one-week workshop was educational for BIM Coordinator Du Tré, as well "It was interesting to see how people work with it and important to gain insights for further development."

Spreading BIM Knowledge Across the Company

Stefaan Du-Tré, the head of the drawing department and his team continue to refine their BIM processes. "We are focusing on consolidation," he explains. The team is working on further improving the quick check system and model check procedures for the coming year.
We also regularly set up BIM kickoffs when starting up specific projects with customers via Teams, which serves as an interactive medium to communicate about the project using the BIM model as a propeller.
Another initiative ongoing is enhancing BIM knowledge across different departments. "We started giving our sales team more BIM knowledge last year so they can use the IFC models more effectively," says Du-Tré. "Of course, they will use it in a different way than the drafting team will."
Stefaan Du-Tré is optimistic about the rise of BIM in the coming years: "The adoption of BIM is more of an inevitability rather than something that will decline. This is why we are spreading the BIM knowledge throughout the company to future-proof our personnel."