De Vries and Verburg design, build and maintain “The Pearl” with BIMcollab 

 
Dutch construction company De Vries and Verburg is expanding their headquarters with a wooden, circular and energy neutral building. In cooperation with Kolpa Architects, a beautiful design has been developed, called “The Pearl” (“De Parel” in Dutch). During the realization phase, executed by De Vries and Verburg, as well as in the maintenance phase, all possibilities of digitalization will be tested. BIMcollab will play a significant role in this, with its products Twin, Zoom and Nexus. 

Build on character 

De Vries and Verburg stand for “building on character”, in which reliability, commitment and drive are their core values. Quality is key in all processes. Additionally, sustainability is a main topic for the company. This year, De Vries and Verburg even won the Dutch Cobouw SDG award, a prize for the most sustainable construction company in the Netherlands. 

Digital ambitions 

For the design “The Pearl”, all parties involved were challenged to achieve the maximum. The development of this expansion of De Vries and Verburg’s headquarters has signaled the start of a major learning curve regarding the digital possibilities that currently exist to design, realize, and manage the building. Part of that includes De Vries and Verburg’s choice for BIMcollab Twin to manage all project data.

Discovering BIMcollab Twin

Maurien Plug, Tender Manager at De Vries and Verburg, is very enthusiastic about exploring all possibilities of BIMcollab Twin: 

“We started using BIMcollab Twin in August. The products of BIMcollab – Nexus, Zoom and Twin – fit 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” 

Expectations before use 

When asking Maurien Plug about his expectations of BIMcollab Twin, he answers: “I expected BIMcollab Twin 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 the unique added value of BIMcollab Twin 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” 

A vision of digitalization 

Maurien’s vision of digitalization is clear: “There is always a distinction between digitalization and digital transformation. Digitization is making existing processes digital. Digital transformation is the progress that helps us do the things we used to do differently and better. My vision focuses on the latter, as the construction sector currently faces difficult challenges.   

As traditional companies, we know that we must digitize to eliminate threats to the sector, but we do not embrace digitization, which makes the threats even bigger. A disruptive business model or an organization that approaches things differently (consider Tesla in the automotive industry) quickly encompasses a large market share, making large-scale change in the field of digital transformation a necessity for survival. “ 

Digital transformation should be an essential part of any business strategy as it helps eliminate challenges in the sector

Technical Designer and BIM Modeler Richard Schell of Kolpa Architects is actively involved in “The Pearl” project. Looking at his experience with BIMcollab, the ability to improve communication with various partners is what excites him. As Richard Schell says: “We are looking into the possibilities to implement BIMcollab Nexus in our other projects”. 

Completion of “The Pearl”  

The technical execution of “The Pearl” is almost complete. Construction will start in January ‘24, and the building is expected to be complete by the end of that year.  

“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”, Maurien Plug concludes.  

“The Pearl” will become an office in which digital possibilities are utilized as much as possible. With this extension, De Vries and Verburg will attain a beautiful, circular building that will showcase their expertise to their clients.  

Want to discover how BIMcollab Twin, Nexus and Zoom can enhance your project?