General Planning – Comprehensive and smart!

Planning and design processes will continue to develop quickly in the coming years. Digitalisation, the demand for climate-neutral production and AI are key factors in this regard and present great opportunities to increase efficiency.

Comprehensive

The work of the General Planner is characterised by coordination and integration, interdisciplinary thinking and the early involvement of all parties. As General Planners, we can provide many specialist engineering services in-house and we also offer client representation, interface management and project management services. This involves the evaluation and use of new forms of collaboration and the consistent integration of digital planning and design processes.

Smart

In the context of technology, smart systems are characterised by efficiency and effectiveness. A “smart factory” is a production facility that brings together people, machines and extensive data in a single digital network. It learns from experience, and analyses and interprets data sets. Applying the term “smart” to the role of the General Planner signifies the development and use of intelligent, efficient planning and design processes that involve a high degree of automation.

Planning processes of the future are intelligent and adaptable

What is important?

New markets, digitalisation and our responsibility for the future demand new focuses and perspectives. For the General Planner, it relates to how complex value chains are viewed with their diverse structures, processes, resources, project participants and interactions. What opportunities to optimise can we take advantage of in making our work, and the wider industry, more sustainable?

In Conversation

Changes in the planning and construction industry

In the process of change

We are facing dramatic changes that are resulting from various trends. For example, current interest rate policies pose new challenges for the financing of construction projects, and high inflation is causing construction prices to rise further. The way we construct has also changed. There is an increasing demand for construction projects to be carried out in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way, considering the entire lifecycle. At the same time, the global production of construction materials can result in supply bottlenecks and scheduling difficulties. And finally, the industry must come to terms with an increasing shortage of skilled workers.

In Conversation

Factors influencing change

Digitalisation

There is no alternative to systematic digitalisation. Germany is falling behind when it comes to the consistent use of digital planning and design tools for all processes from the initial concept to the structure’s service phase. The ability to efficiently share information and work product among various disciplines is a clear advantage of the General Planning approach – achieving interoperability using systems that work together smoothly.

ESG criteria

General Planners have a responsibility to help shape the future of construction, regardless of legal requirements. To this end, it is important to firmly anchor the principles of sustainability in how work is carried out – both in-house and in all working relationships. This creates trust, enabling the benefits of implementing sustainable measures, e.g. using alternative building materials, to be convincingly communicated.

Expertise

In principle, it does not matter much whether the services are provided by one company or whether subcontractors are used. What really matters is the experience previously gained in working on projects with other firms, the company’s level of expertise, a triedand-tested IT system, and a well-established culture of productive communication. The biggest challenge in the coming years will be the shortage of skilled workers and the resulting effort required to maintain high levels of technical expertise.

Efficieny

The General Planner’s role on a project is centred on overall responsibility. The client entrusts a single partner, who assumes sole legal responsibility, with the job of managing all design and coordination processes. The close, intensive collaboration in the interdisciplinary team that comes together to deliver the project ensures efficiency, with the fast flow of information enabling solutions to be developed quickly, while minimising the risk of delays and cost overruns.

Insights into General Planning Projects

Fire Service Headquarter, MV

Tortola Ferry Terminal, Virgin Island

Land protection dike, Helgoland

SEL DE MER HOTEL, DA NANG

Flood protection, Bavaria

Supreme people`s court of Vietnam

Building with vision

Schwerin’s Technology and Commercial Centre

The office and production floor space of the Technology and Commercial Centre (TGZ) in Schwerin is currently being expanded. The need has increased for new space for start-up companies, whose founders have been realising and developing their business ideas here since 1990. Especially for technology-oriented companies, the TGZ constitutes an important network in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The new building, with a gross floor area of approximately 6,650 m², is characterised by its efficient and sustainable design. The rooms can be individually adapted to the needs of startups, increasing the cost-effectiveness of their use.

General Planning