OBO Bettermann significantly involved in the BIM planning of the Erlangen fire station

Operations must continue, the station must remain manned – this was precisely the challenge when the Erlangen fire station building was being refurbished.

The city of Erlangen had commissioned an extension to the building as well as a general refurbishment of the existing building, to ensure the reliable operation of the fire station and a high degree of flexibility in the future.

The city’s requirement was to use a BIM concept and the CDE (Common Data Environment/exchange platform). Due to its many years of expertise in this field, the specialist planning office KAISER-AMM was commissioned to plan the technical building systems.

These include high-voltage current, telecommunications and information technology systems as well as building automation. The basic prerequisite was to ensure planning that was as precise as possible so that there would be no failures during the conversion.

For the planners at KAISER-AMM, this was a matter of course, as BIM has been mandatory for the construction of public buildings since the end of 2022 (in various stages of expansion). 

Shorter planning time thanks to BIM

Managing Director Peter Kaiser says: “With BIM, we can significantly optimise our planning – both in terms of time and being able to hand over the technical model without errors. That’s the reason we opted for the BIM models from OBO Bettermann for the planning.”

OBO’s BIM approach is characterised by the fact that the on-board routing function in “Autodesk Revit OBO Kabeltrassen” allows complex cable routes to be planned, including the necessary fittings such as cross-overs or vertical bends. OBO has developed its own plug-in for this purpose, which can be used to load any routing system into Revit.

The plug-in then shows its full strength when finalising planning. All routing elements can be assessed using the integrated parts list function, so that the subsequent quotation can be prepared quickly and precisely.  

OBO data can also be used by non-Revit users. Models can be downloaded in various formats, such as IFC, DWG or STP, via the BIM@OBO platform. All information in the models is always up to date thanks to regular updates to the database.

“As the commissioned office, we found the perfect partner in OBO Bettermann. The OBO Bettermann team responded competently and quickly to any queries and also helped us to provide the trades carrying out the work with perfect process planning,” he explains. 

As an expert in the field of Building Information Modelling, Peter Kaiser is convinced that construction will change increasingly quickly. From a business perspective, he is pleased to be a pioneer in this field. From an economic and ecological point of view, he believes it is high time that as many planning offices and contractors as possible also set out on this path and became fit in terms of BIM.