BIM in the fast lane: the Havelland Autobahn extension

The A10/A24 Autobahn is the main thoroughfare between Berlin and Hamburg. The infrastructure along the entire route can no longer keep up with the growing volume of traffic and the road surface is showing signs of wear.

The route will be widened and modernized to cover six lanes while traffic will continue to operate. The clients are the German federal government and the State of Brandenburg, represented by DEGES Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH. 2020 is the year earmarked in the German federal government's digitalization strategy by which it wants to make BIM the new standard for transport infrastructure projects and this section of the autobahn is among the BIM pilot projects that make up the government's 2020 road map.

This section of the Havelland Autobahn is also the first German PPP pilot project in which planning, design, construction and maintenance will be performed using BIM from a single source. Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG is responsible for the BIM management. The company, which is a subsidiary of the Royal BAM Group, is responsible for all planning and construction, and together with HABAU Hoch- und Tiefbaugesellschaft—forms the construction consortium.

The BIM contract covers a 5.5 km section of the autobahn. This section of the A24 will be comprehensively renovated and a hard shoulder will be added at various points between the Fehrbellin and Kremmen exits and will be opened to traffic when needed. Construction will include two rest and service areas, two traffic sign cantilevers, a replacement bridge, a noise barrier, and wildlife protection fences along the route.

The Wayss & Freytag engineers have a clear strategy to meet these challenges. “Our vision is to transform ourselves from a pure construction company into a company that uses, evaluates, and manages digital data along the entire value chain,” says Krause.

Using BIM creates a unique data source in accordance with the principle of a single source of truth (SSOT). This reduces the number of different information sources and also leads to fewer complications, shorter lead times, increased productivity, improved collaboration, higher quality, and lower costs.

Wayss & Freytag has demonstrated its innovative ability by taking things a step further. “For us, digitalization goes beyond the BIM road map,” says Krause. “It also means modernizing processes along the entire value chain. Where forms and printouts used to dominate, digital tools are now applied to improve processes, make things easier, reduce risk, and improve efficiency on the construction site, in the preparation of bids, and in everything we do,” he explains.

One of the contractual requirements in the BIM pilot project was the use of the open file formats *.ifc, and in some cases *. cpixml.

“Autodesk’s export function helped us transfer the data from the authoring program, and we were able to process it using our coordination software,” says Thomas Tschickardt, Digital Construction Manager at Wayss & Freytag.

Here’s a practical example: By considering the project over its entire life cycle, the site manager became involved in the planning meetings and provided input regarding the construction machinery required. This made it possible to clarify ahead of time that the installation of the planned sheet piling would require a different construction machine than was planned. Thanks to the common model that links all the data, this error was detected before construction began, saving avoidable costs.

The foreman then uses this model on the construction site. He enters the actual data from the schedule and the actual quantities directly from the construction site. These flow back into the daily construction report or to the engineers’ control system. This is typically how 5D is applied. All the data from the planning phase is supplemented by additional data from the construction phase. This provides a true 360-degree view of the entire project, which optimizes the construction process.

This was the experience of Tschickardt, who believes that “work has become more efficient while maintaining high quality and reducing risks across the projects.”

The basis for this is the Autodesk solution BIM 360, which enables digital defect management and ensures the availability of up-to-date digital plans for site managers on a tablet.