SOCOTEC, a global group of 900M€ revenues in testing, inspection and certification, also acting for the industry equipments, is launching in Germany its BIM solutions in a market asking for more digitised solutions in the sectors of the construction and the infrastructure. The group is expanding in two ways as it recently acquired Vidaris in August, a major company based in New York, specialist in technical advice for complex buildings, and it is also developing Building Information Modelling solutions on a global basis, notably in Germany where it weighs 85M€ in 25 locations with 750 people. The BIM solutions will be presented to companies at the famous BIM WORLD fair held in Munich on November 26th and 27th, 2019.

The construction and the infrastructure sectors are doing their revolution as BIM (Building Information Modelling) is expanding by digitising buildings, districts, cities, infrastructure. Digitising construction models allows owners, constructors, investors to offer better reliability, productivity and performance, security for both citizens and inhabitants, but also better monitoring and maintenance of assets.

With 10% of its building control activity being done in BIM in the Construction technical control in France, the SOCOTEC Group is a company with strong innovation capabilities. BIM solutions can be implemented along the whole asset life cycle of the construction. From strategy to operations, every step can be covered :

  • To ensure future performance of assets (technical control, safety inspection, testing, maintenance, data management)
  • To develop return on investment on properties management (BIM strategy, BIM management system, Audit of the structure and model content, BIM advisory at every stage with stakeholders and investors)
  • To assist and offer training to develop BIM capabilities among contractors and managers of the construction project
  • To develop future standards within the project and build trust thanks to a certification approach on BIM for the company, the people, the project.

Hervé Montjotin, CEO of the SOCOTEC Group confirms : “Our role is to act as a trusted third-party to implement Building Information Modelling along the asset life cycle of the construction project. We ensure asset integrity and reinforce trust among stakeholders when BIM is thought at the beginning of a project. Indeed, future performance can be monitored on several stages : technically first, then financial and economic, but also environnemental performance is at stake, safety of both people and assets as well, and reputation of course. We are clearly pioneering and leading the market on BIM in construction and infrastructure. But also in the industry, for instance, we recently implemented BIM solutions with our clients SEGRO in a logistics plant of 63.000m2.”

Ludger Speier, leading the german platform of the SOCOTEC Group adds : “Germany is strong in the Construction and Infrastructure sectors, and digitization is a challenge that major groups are integrating in their construction projects. Industry has some advance as automation is becoming a standard everywhere. Our portfolio of BIM solutions within the SOCOTEC group is an asset to accompany our clients and help them gain performance and productivity. At ZPP and Canzler, part of the SOCOTEC Group in Germany, we have a large experience on BIM in the infrastructure and real estate sector. Every infrastructure, every building, or equipement should be « BIM-driven » in the near future. That’s a societal trend.”

In Germany, for example, the FRAPORT project (Frankfurt Airport) and the Hannover Central station (Deutsche Bahn) rely on BIM solutions provided by engineers of SOCOTEC (Canzler and ZPP were particularly involved). All our BIM Solutions are technically integrated throughout the project life cycle of the assets construction