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BIM & Tonic
Nemetschek recently celebrated its 60th year with the launch of an innovative digital twin application -
dTwin - punningly paired with a gin tasting experience, writes David Chadwick
That's not my title - it was a lovely
play on words from Nemetschek
themselves, who recently hosted a
combined event that celebrated the 60th
anniversary of the company's existence
and the launch of dTwin, seasoned by a
gin tasting experience.
60 years is quite an achievement for a
company. Formed in 1963 by Georg
Nemetschek, the company sought to
leverage the latest developments in
computing technology, such as they were,
for his Munich-based engineering
company. His visionary aim was described
by Yves Padrines, the current CEO of
Nemetschek, which now heads a group of
IT software companies within the
construction industry, media and 3D
visualisation, most of them familiar names.
Realising even then that computers in
the 1970s would provide a suitable
platform for hosting CAD software, Georg
Nemetschek introduced Allplan, the first
CAD solution for architects. Focusing
entirely on those sectors, the company is
now the second largest software
company in Germany, and amongst the
top five publicly listed software
companies in Europe, capitalised around
10 billion Euro. It has enjoyed over 1,700
per cent growth over the last 10 years.
Whilst Allplan, a BIM solution for
architects and engineers, is
Nemetschek's leading brand, better
known in the UK are Graphisoft's
Archicad and Vectorworks. Structural
engineering software and analytics
software is provided by FRILO in
Europe or Risa in North America, whilst
Solibri provides clash detection and
quality assurance.
Another major brand is Bluebeam,
which now has over three million users,
and is soon to add AI functionality,
scheduling and estimation on a
Bluebeam Cloud platform. Less wellknown
are Spacewell, workspace and
energy management software, and Crem
Solutions, a property management ERP
for the German market. A module called
Office also gathers building intelligent
software from the design and
construction lifecycle, for complex
building like hospital clinics, or data
centres, to be handed over at the end of
the construction cycle.
Nemetschek exhibits some
uniqueness compared to the
competition, but it is playing in a market
that is showing variable levels of
growth. Designing and planning is more
digitalised than other areas but still has
levels of digitalisation below 10%. There
is a huge level of digitalisation, however,
that can still be done in facility and
asset management.
CHALLENGES FOR THE INDUSTRY
Yves underlined his statement, pointing
out challenges that affect the industry.
"90% of projects are late or over budget,"
he said, and that "It's a global issue." That
was confirmed by fellow infrastructure
and construction delegates at a McKinley
symposium in Dubai from which Yves
had just returned.
The problem will be compounded as
projects are getting larger and more
complex. In addition, close to 40% of the
global CO2 emissions are from the
construction industry, some from the
design and construction phase, but most
from during the operation and
maintenance of a building. This is
complicated further by an estimated 20%
of materials used in the construction
project being wasted. Last but not least,
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March/April 2024