LINEAR: Tell us about the history of your company and the current range of services.
Jirka Walther: Plan B – Beratende Ingenieure GmbH was founded in 2007 by our Managing Director Bernd Behrendt, Oliver Zander and Marko Schmidt after many years of successful collaboration. Since then, our company has grown steadily and has developed into a renowned and highly qualified engineering office for the design of sophisticated building technology. Today, we employ a team of around 60 people and plan the entire spectrum of building technology for all types of buildings. As a digital engineering office, we develop sustainable and efficient building technology almost exclusively on the basis of models thanks to state-of-the-art hardware and software. What sets us apart, however, is and remains our great team! With our digital mindset, professional expertise and a lot of fun and humor, we develop optimal technical building services solutions for our customers.
LINEAR: Which of the projects you have realized make you particularly proud and what achievements have your company delivered?
Jirka Walther: We are proud of almost all of our projects. However, our “Bürogebäude Geneststraße 5” project in Berlin deserves special mention. With its approx. 81,500 m² of gross floor area, it is also the largest project that we have ever planned completely model-based (BIM). We designed the entire technical equipment for our client, GSG Gewerbehöfe Berlin 3 GmbH & CO KG, in collaboration with Kleihues + Kleihues Gesellschaft von Architekten, and our MEP model has exceeded all our previous limits. We have also planned some exciting and technically very demanding projects for our industrial clients, which were characterised by particularly high demands on BIM design, among other things.
LINEAR: How do you see the topic of “digitalization” in the industry and what do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities?
Jirka Walther: We associate some challenges and many opportunities with the advancing digitalization. One of the biggest challenges is integrating new technologies into our existing MEP design processes, while at the same time data security is becoming increasingly important. On the other hand, digitalization opens up countless opportunities for us to increase efficiency and quality, e.g., through building information modelling, intelligent construction site management tools and automation, which can ultimately lead to faster construction projects and cost savings. New planning processes and working methods, as well as a new way of communicating within the planning team, also promote the personal development of our employees and awareness of the common project goals.
LINEAR: What significant changes have you noticed in the industry in recent years?
Jirka Walther: We are increasingly encountering demands from clients for model-based MEP design (BIM), which also suits us. There is also a growing focus on sustainable construction and the associated demands for energy-efficient designs and related building certifications such as DGNB, LEED, BREEAM etc.. We find the developments in relation to smart buildings exciting. The integration of IoT technologies and AI opens up new avenues in the development of building intelligence to increase energy efficiency, safety and user comfort, to name just a few examples.
LINEAR: What practical effects do the new requirements in the course of integrated MED design with BIM have on your work processes?
Jirka Walther: Integrated MEP design with BIM enables us to significantly improve our work processes. Thanks to the digital modelling and networking of various planning elements, our teams can work together more efficiently, conflicts are identified at an early stage and communication is improved. This leads to more precise planning results, fewer errors in cross-trade planning and on the construction site and an overall increase in productivity. At the same time, motivation increases because the “new” planning methods are fun and the results are inspiring.
LINEAR: What role do sustainability and climate protection play in your projects?
Jirka Walther: Sustainability and climate protection have always played a central role in all our projects. In addition to legal and normative principles, we have our own very high standards when it comes to design efficient and sustainable building technology. The development of efficient building technology incorporating renewable energies, resource conservation and the integration of smart building technologies are standard for us. Incidentally, an efficient BIM design process also has a significantly positive impact on the carbon footprint of our building services planning.
LINEAR: If you had one wish to simplify the future design of buildings, what would it be?
Jirka Walther: Our wish is to completely bridge the gap between theory and practice with regard to BIM (Building Information Modelling).
LINEAR: You rely on LINEAR solutions for building services design. What prompted you to invest in the software back then?
Jirka Walther: We have been involved in model-based MEP design for a long time and have therefore gained a lot of experience by using various design and software tools. One of the decisive factors in our decision to switch to LINEAR was the desire to gradually consolidate our software landscape. After thorough research, we ended up with LINEAR because LINEAR fully maps our entire planning process. The combination of model-based design and calculation of building technology, as well as the use of the extensive analysis functions, leads to a significant increase in planning efficiency and quality. In short, the overall package of LINEAR has convinced us.
LINEAR: You have already completed numerous projects with LINEAR solutions. What is your experience of using the software so far?
Jirka Walther: Our experience with LINEAR has been consistently positive and we are highly motivated to fully integrate LINEAR into our planning processes. Working with LINEAR noticeably boosts motivation and satisfaction in the MEP design team. We are also enthusiastic about the e-learning platform and the support, which has so far left no questions unanswered. In this context, we believe that LINEAR attaches great importance to user wishes and practical experience in the further development of the software.
LINEAR: What do you think makes LINEAR the ideal solution to your challenges?
Jirka Walther : LINEAR has the right solution for us for all of our MEP design challenges in every design phase. The application is practical, easy to learn and mostly intuitive to use. With LINEAR, we develop innovative MEP completely model-based and consistently in one system.
Thank you for talking to us.