In December 2003, the Autobahnen- und Schnellstraßen-Finanzierungs- Aktiengesellschaft (ASFINAG), an organisation run by the Austrian government, decided to expand the primary road network in the east of Austria as a public private partnership (PPP) using concession models. The PPP project commenced in December 2006 and, to ensure successful project execution, ASFINAG formed an interdisciplinary project team to bring the construction project to the tender phase.

Information management challenge

The bidder consortium Bonaventura (ALPINE/HOCHTIEF/Egis Projects) quickly saw that the tender process alone presented a huge challenge in terms of information management, with their offer comprising a data volume of around 60 GB. And, as Bonaventura's team of experts was spread across Europe, it soon became clear that an online collaboration platform was needed for offer creation.

Communication tool in the bidder phase

After a short evaluation phase, Bonaventura chose think project! as the appropriate online collaboration tool, offering a communication-oriented solution that is not based on fixed folder structures. think project!'s ease of use was another important criterion, enabling every user to familiarise themselves with the system quickly and work with it immediately.

Flexible platform for the construction phase

The Bonaventura consortium won the tender. From commencement of construction, think project! was used for work scheduling, reporting, plan verification and coordination.

Communication flow

Bonaventura is using think project! to manage around 250 internal participants based in Austria, Germany, the UK and France. Approximately 500 new plans have been created each month in automate planruns. In the first five months of the project, 16,700 messages and emails were sent via the online collaboration platform.

Complexity in design

The execution of BMW Welt’s design placed high demands on its steel and facade structure. In particular, the roof construction, which weighs 4,000 tons, is described as a ‘floating cloud’ – but does not obey geometric rules. Its external height ranges from 28 to 30 metres, while the interior is between 6 and 26 metres high – resulting in a complex geometry for the supporting structure and requiring the utmost precision across all sections.

Plan management achieves new dimensions

In addition to the complicated technical requirements for planning, the project had a tight timeframe. Communication and clarification processes between draft designer, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and the 30 design specialists – comprising around 120 architects and engineers –  needed to be observed. Above all, the correct designs needed to be available in the right place, at the right time – presenting a challenge for Schmitt Stumpf Frühauf und Partner, the engineering company responsible for executing the project and monitoring construction. Schmitt Stumpf Frühauf needed to supply around 50,000 plans to more than 100 different companies involved in planning and execution.

These – and many other challenges during the design and execution phases – prompted Schmitt Stumpf Frühauf to decide to rely on think project! to help turn the ambitious concepts for BMW Welt into reality.

The renowned Spanish architecture office, allende arquitectos, was founded in 1982 and has been the recipient of numerous awards. To allow the team of architects to concentrate on design tasks, day-to-day operations need to be structured and standardised – but day-to-day cooperation with numerous project partners across the globe poses organisational challenges. allende arquitectos decided to look for a tool that would significantly simplify and accelerate communication processes. The company initially chose think project! to support the construction of a large holiday resort in southern Spain with the appealing name Las Colinas de Marbella (The Hills of Marbella).

Demanding project coordination for the construction of a luxury resort

The project was built over 46,000 square metres and involved the construction of a luxury hotel with 53 rooms and its own spa, 69 additional apartments with hotel service, 83 holiday flats and 18 villas. The project team worked from various locations, including Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Marbella. The communication process between designers allende arquitectos, project developers Hines Spain and hotel operator Mandarin Oriental was especially complex.

Simplified coordination through structured communication

All project communication and the management of project documents was controlled via think project!. Detailed clarifications were carefully documented and numerous coordination processes greatly simplified thanks to structured communications. The time needed for face-to-face meetings was reduced, leading to significant cost savings – particularly as the project partners were so distant from each other.

Long-term decision in favour of think project!

think project!’s ability to adapt flexibly to specified communication methods during the Las Colinas project impressed the allende arquitectos project team. At the beginning of 2007, allende arquitectos decided to use think project! as its standard collaboration platform for project organisation whenever external project partners are involved.

The construction project in Moscow’s ‘Manhattan’ is a good example of the way think project! supports communication in international projects.

Luxury at airy heights

The building’s external appearance is characterised by two pointed sails. Each of a different height (63 and 93 storeys), the two towers are connected by a shared base building. The top two storeys of the larger tower are reserved for restaurants, a viewing platform and a fitness club with swimming pool. A panoramic lift rises through a 20-metre high aquarium, similar to that already built by nps tchoban voss for Domaquaree (Radisson SAS) in Berlin.

International team of experts

The project involved experts from a number of different countries. Peter Schweger and Sergei Tchoban from Germany were responsible for the building design, while the execution phase was carried out by the Russian architectural firm Stroymontazh, under the leadership of Victor Schteller. Mosproject-2 supervised execution.The challenges involved in an international project with this degree of complexity required a comprehensive solution. Mirax chose to implement think project! as the online collaboration and document control platform for all project participants, even though construction work was already well under way.

Multilingual project communication

The project, created tri-lingually in German, English and Russian, is a good example of the flexibility of think project! for international requirements. In this case, project participants from Russia, Germany, China, Japan, Turkey and the United States access the project platform. Around 150 participants have direct access, while numerous external participants without access are supplied with information via an intelligent email function. With the help of think project!, the complex tasks and numerous decisions involved in a project of this complexity are documented and can be tracked at all times.