Digitization of shopping centers - from BIM to the digital twinDigitization of shopping centers - from BIM to the digital twin BIM2digitalTWIN

Project duration: 07/2018 to 07/2022

Digital methods and tools, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the digitalTWIN, are considered to have great potential for increasing information availability and efficiency, as a workshop held in November 2017 by the German Council of Shopping Places (GCSP) and the University of Wuppertal (BUW) revealed. The joint project BIM2digitalTWIN was initiated by the GCSP and BUW to concretize and test the initially conceptual ideas.

The project examined and developed the digital handling of real estate asset management processes with a special focus on retail properties together with practice and technology partners. Technical support was provided by the practice partners NUVEEN Real Estate, ECE, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield and WISAG, in the area of BIM and process management by Mondrian and the BUW as well as the technology partners Architrave and SAP. The following aspects were implemented within the project:

For the PEP Munich pilot project, a building data model (3D model of the building, enriched with information on areas, types of use, components and facilities, among other things) was created.

The building data model was imported into the SAP Cloud for Real Estate software, which is designed for real estate management and optimization. Imported data from the building data model on (among other things) areas, types of use and designations are available in the SAP Cloud for Real Estate software and can be used in it.

Supplementary software-specific application areas with a focus on retail real estate were created in the form of prototypes and mock-ups.

Information requirements for building data models were defined and published as so-called "BIM profiles".

Find out more in our project video.