High Tech Factory: an extraordinary achievement full of complex steel structures

"The special thing about project High Tech Factory in Veldhoven is that this building is actually too small for all the installation work that has to go into it. In fact, we are talking about 3,500 tons of steel construction with steel auxiliary structures for equipment with pipes and ducts," says Peter-Paul Brans, 3D BIM modeler and owner of technical drawing agency Buro Grondverf. Brans tackled this tough challenge with conviction and enthusiasm using Tekla Structures. Thus, the Tekla Model Sharing tool and the exchange of more than 150 weekly changing IFC models make an important contribution to this project: a paragon of modern, high-tech construction.

The building consists of cleanrooms on the first floor, a technical area as an intermediate level, and building levels with offices and laboratories on top. While construction of the building has already begun, the interior portion is still under development. "We are constantly engineering the piping for the many cooling and air purification machines. This will be further developed during the construction phase so that we can directly incorporate the client's specific requirements," Brans said. As a result, the client is flexible and can develop chip machines that respond to the dynamic market. Working with BIM helps enormously here, because it allows all parties to switch quickly and makes the tight schedules achievable.

To get the many structures to fit in this building, with a challenging size of 96x55x18 meters, the choice was made to model with Tekla Structures. Brans: "We work with as many as ten to fifteen layers next to, through and over each other in Tekla Structures. There are so many pipes that have to fit exactly; it's almost impossible to explain this on a 2D drawing." Working on behalf of GS Staalwerken Groep, Buro Grondverf provided most of the modeling work for this clean room building. In addition, Brans worked out several components with some of GS Staalwerken Groep's modelers using the Tekla Model Sharing tool. This allows you to maintain control, even if you outsource parts of the modeling work or work with multiple modelers at other locations. Because only changes are synchronized in the cloud, this software works at optimal speed. The backup also preserves previous versions - from one day to days back. Should the need arise, you can retrieve older versions. "Using Tekla Model Sharing, we can work with multiple modelers simultaneously in a cloud environment on the same model. One press of 'save' tells the others that there is an update and what changes there are. These updates to IFC models are also visually verifiable in Tekla Structures using colors: what has been added, changed or removed? All these updates go up and down effortlessly," Brans explains.

The large amount of data in this high-tech project requires precise coordination between the project partners. Loading and editing large and complex IFC models is done with Tekla Structures and collaboration platform Trimble Connect with ease. "There are certainly over 150 IFC reference models that change weekly. To keep 3,500 tons of steel structure and the many IFC models workable and simple is an extraordinary achievement of this software package," says Brans, who is very enthusiastic about it. 

All parties involved, such as the client, building contractor, structural engineer, installer, concrete supplier and steel builder use IFC models. This allows all the 3D engineering of various parties to be brought together. During weekly construction meetings, the latest IFC models are uploaded into collaboration platform Trimble Connect and all aspects are checked, adjusted and completed. This approach streamlines collaboration and helps improve the construction process. Brans: "This program works easily for a visual check. This is the first step in preventing construction errors. Also, a 3D representation speaks much more to the imagination than a 2D drawing." 

On site, mechanics, shift supervisors and work planners also work with Collaboration Platform Trimble Connect, which contains the most up-to-date data, IFC models, drawings and documents. Updates happen automatically, with daily email notifications. "The tablet with Collaboration Platform Trimble Connect is always the starting point for the fitters on the construction site. They can see exactly what needs to be assembled and where. This is accurate to the millimeter. So everyone works with the same and the latest information." The completion of High Tech Factory, an example of advanced building technology worked out in detail and with limited time, is done in phases. Final completion is expected in mid-2025.