How De Vries & Verburg use BIMcollab to design, build & maintain “The Pearl”
What does digital transformation in construction look like when it is applied end-to-end, across design, construction, and operation? For Dutch construction company De Vries and Verburg, the answer is The Pearl: a wooden, circular, and energy-neutral expansion of their headquarters that was completed in 2025.
Developed in close collaboration with Kolpa Architects, The Pearl was conceived not only as a building, but as a testbed for digital ways of working. From early design coordination to long-term building management, the project demonstrated how integrated digital tooling can improve collaboration, quality, and transparency across the construction lifecycle. BIMcollab played a significant role, with its Model Quality Assurance and Common Data Environment capabilities centralizing data and coordinating requirements throughout the project.
Background
De Vries and Verburg operate under the principle of “building on character,” with reliability, commitment, and drive as their core values. Quality is a constant across all processes, while sustainability is a defining theme for the organization.
This focus was recognized when De Vries and Verburg won the Dutch Cobouw SDG Award, presented to the most sustainable construction company in the Netherlands. The Pearl aligns directly with this vision: a circular, energy-neutral building designed to embody both technical expertise and future-oriented thinking.
The Challenge
With The Pearl, all parties involved were challenged to push boundaries. The project marked the start of a significant learning curve in exploring the digital possibilities available to design, realize, and ultimately manage a building more effectively.
“With ‘The Pearl’, we want to show our clients the possibilities of this digital era. We believe this project to be the start of discovering ways in which we can further optimize cooperation, now and in the future, to create even better buildings for our clients.”
This ambition introduced several challenges:
- Coordinating design and execution across multiple disciplines
- Managing growing volumes of project data in a structured, accessible way
- Ensuring clear communication and issue management throughout the design phase
- Preparing project information for use beyond construction, into the maintenance phase
To meet these challenges, De Vries and Verburg sought an approach that went beyond digitizing existing workflows and instead supported true digital transformation.
The Solution
As part of this strategy, De Vries and Verburg selected BIMcollab’s CDE as the central environment for managing project data, with Model Quality Assurance (including BIMcollab Zoom) for issue management and model coordination.
Maurien Plug, Tender Manager at De Vries and Verburg, was closely involved in exploring what BIMcollab could help them achieve:
“We started using BIMcollab in August. BIMcollab’s solutions work together seamlessly, which is great. During the design phase, our team was especially pleased with the ability to quickly signal and register clashes and issues. Every other week, we discussed and managed these clashes. Additionally, we immediately noticed the speed of the 3D-viewer during our review meetings.”
From the outset, BIMcollab’s CDE was intended to function as more than a document repository. The expectation was that it would act as a central hub, connecting project information, comments, and models while integrating with existing systems.
“I expected BIMcollab’s CDE to be a solution for sharing information with our construction partners as well as for the integral collection of comments on our drawings and models. Besides, I believed in its unique added value regarding adapting to and connecting with existing applications, such as KYP, Ed Controls, etcetera. The fact that BIMcollab cooperates and integrates with external partners is a strong proposition.”
The fact that BIMcollab cooperates and integrates with external partners is a strong proposition.
The Outcome
As The Pearl progressed from design into realization and was ultimately completed in 2025, BIMcollab supported teams across both the design and execution phases, while laying the groundwork for long-term building management.
BIMcollab enabled a structured approach to issue detection and resolution improved coordination during design reviews, while centralized project data made information more accessible to all stakeholders.
Key outcomes include:
- Structured issue detection and resolution during design coordination
- Improved communication between De Vries and Verburg, Kolpa Architects, and other project partners
- Centralized access to project information through BIMcollab’s CDE
- A foundation for using digital building data beyond handover, into operation and maintenance
From the perspective of Kolpa Architects, the impact on communication was particularly clear. Technical Designer and BIM Modeler Richard Schell, who was actively involved in the project, highlights the benefit:
It is amazing that you can easily detect issues and pass them on to the person responsible for solving them.
This experience also sparked interest in broader adoption of BIMcollab tools within Kolpa Architects, as Schell notes: “We are looking into the possibilities to implement BIMcollab in our other projects.”
The completed building now serves not only as an office expansion, but as a tangible demonstration of how digital tools can support higher-quality collaboration throughout the building lifecycle.
As a true testament to this, De Vries en Verburg won the Timber Construction award (“de Houtbouwprijs” in Dutch) for their work on The Pearl, in the commercial timber construction category. The jury remarked about their win that the award “went to the most innovative building, which features a unique load-bearing structure, a remarkably elegant design, is comfortable to use, and also aims for extreme sustainability. We also took into account the fact that the client embarked on the adventure of thoroughly mastering the art of wood construction with this project.” (Translated directly from a quotation in Dutch.)
In addition, The Pearl received an outstanding BREEAM score of 92.24% from the Dutch Green Building Council, further evidence that the team’s collaborative, innovative approach is one to keep in mind for anyone looking to create high quality buildings that do not compromise on sustainability.
Conclusion
With the completion of The Pearl in 2025, De Vries and Verburg have realized a building that reflects both their sustainability ambitions and their commitment to digital transformation. The project demonstrates how integrated digital tools can support better coordination, clearer communication, and higher-quality outcomes, from early design decisions through to long-term building use.
Today, as many companies grapple with overcoming data chaos, and finding more sustainable and efficient ways of working, The Pearl stands as an inspiring illustration of how digital collaboration can be embedded into modern construction practice.
