From the Cloud to the Pitch: BIM Collaboration in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Revamp Project

DANIEL MORAL: Good morning and thank you for joining. Please welcome to the class From Cloud to the Pitch and learn how BIM collaboration was key to revamp the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Construction of the current Santiago Bernabéu stadium began five years ago. This stadium served not only as an emblem for the Real Madrid football team, but has also become a symbol of the city itself. I'm honored to introduce Laura Aldea Abad as the manager for the stadium. She has been instrumental in making this remarkable project a reality. Please welcome Laura.

LAURA ALDEA ABAD: Thank you, Daniel. I'm an architect and BIM specialist. I have served as the BIM design and construction manager. And previously, I also supported the technical office as the BIM technician and for the specialist. Prior to joining FCC, I spent time working at the construction company at an engineering firm. Since then and until now, I have worked with projects involving the development of collaborative environment and in the Bernabéu stadium too.

Nowadays, I'm developing coordination tasks in digital implementation at FCC construction, and my main interests are in the areas of BIM collaboration, coordination, construction management, and BIM applied to site workers and on-site applications. And here with me, we have our colleagues from Autodesk, Daniel Moral and Leandro Li Causi.

DANIEL MORAL: Thank you, Laura. Please allow me to introduce briefly my colleague, Leandro and myself-- Leandro, who helped us to create this presentation, holds a master's degree in building engineering and a master of science in product design. His professional background includes experience as a professional in engineering and construction companies. In his role as a technical solution executive at Autodesk, Leandro collaborates with customers to identify needs and design effective technical solutions.

And as for myself, I'm Daniel, an architect from Spain with a decade of experience working in various architectural and construction offices in Vienna, Austria. After five years in Autodesk and as a construction customer success manager, I collaborate closely with our enterprise customers to facilitate the adoption of Autodesk Construction Cloud solution and, thereby, streamlining daily operation.

Thank you all for assisting to this class. Today, we will guide you with the classes of a soccer trainer through the various challenges and solutions implemented to make this project a reality. First, we will discover how to assess and enrich BIM models to integrate design and site operation in a [? CD ?] as the single source of truth. Second, we will unveil how the digital delivery allows to combine demolition, design, build, and soccer matches to happen at the same time. Then, we will find out how site worker implemented digital solution for the quality process. And finally, we will learn how it was possible to bring every stakeholder from the various disciplines to the same approach and methodology.

Laura, please. The stage is now yours.

LAURA: Thanks, Daniel. First of all, I want to talk a bit about our company, who we are, and what we do. FCC Construction is a part of the FCC Group. Among the projects we carry out are highways, tunnels, airports, ports, bridges, Metro lines and stations, rail lines, stadiums, hospitals and universities.

At an international level, we have worked throughout Europe, North America, Central America, South America, and Arabia and of course, Australia. We have built a metropolitan stadium of Atlético Madrid, infrastructures in cities to connect people, connection tunnels, different roads. For example, a bridge in Vidin, on the Danube River between Romania and Bulgaria. Different lines and stations of the Madrid metro. We have passively participated too, in the construction of the terminal four of the Madrid Barajas airport, water facilities to support cities, sustainable facilities that use natural resources, such as the sun, areas of the Atocha train station in Madrid, several metro lines in South Arabia.

And as you see, many of these works have obtained international awards and recognition. First metro lines in Central America.

Atlético.

In short, we build a world to live in.

DANIEL: Thank you, Laura. FCC is indeed an impressive company, building every day different types of amazing project. As well, working with Laura and other of her colleagues across the whole company, it has been an honor for me and I greatly appreciate the positive and open collaboration. Now, just like in soccer, where training is crucial for victory, the same principle applies to construction. Laura, could you share how you all prepare yourself in this project for success?

LAURA: Yes, of course. When we were preparing the tender, the first element we received to analyze the stadium were the different models of existing conditions because the [? prior ?] design is old and there were in [? Revit ?] 2017 version. They made up 7 geometry models, including architecture, structure, and facilities, and two reference models.

And on the other hand, the models of the new project decided by EDAI. In total, there were 19 geometry models with the disciplines of architecture, structure, envelope, organization, and facilities, and 5 sheet models for documentation.

DANIEL: Thank you, Laura. This is already an impressive collection of data to take into account before even to start the project. I believe we are now ready to start the match.

LAURA: Yes. Now I'm going to tell you the story of this great game we play. It starts with the warming up there in the pits before the competition. This is the starting 11 who participate in this match Beam360 is the goalkeeper. In defender position, we find Recap Pro, Navisworks manage, Revit, and Tekla. As midfielder, we use IFCe's, LiDAR technology, and Dynamo. And finally the main striker, BIM 360 Field management.

DANIEL: Some of the attendees are probably wondering about why BIM 360 and not Autodesk Construction Cloud? Laura, please let me share how the project fit in the Autodesk cloud evolution.

To understand the selection of the CD solution, we present here a concise timeline detailing Autodesk platform evolution over the recent years, starting with the introduction of B360 classic product 12 years ago in 2012, and progressing to B360 next Gen. It was at this time exactly, in 2019, five years ago, when FCC started the Real Madrid stadium project, opting for the second cloud generation as the common data environment. During this period, Autodesk expanded the portfolio through acquisitions such as PlanGrid, Assemble, Building connect, and pipe.

Two years later, the launch of Autodesk Construction Cloud unified these functionalities of BIM 360 and with some of the acquired solutions. The transition from BIM 360 to ACC was always a significant topic of discussion between Laura and myself, especially for workflow regarding quality and asset model based objects.

Laura, please, could you elaborate on the selection and configuration of the Autodesk Construction solution as the CDE?

LAURA: Yes Daniel. As you say, since the beginning of 2019 when I saw 19650 was published, it was very clear to us-- we wanted to work with these guidelines and under interactive workflows and processes for resolving interferences. The information is managed collaboratively through the city, depending on its status. We use BIM 360 for work in progress, share between us and the other project subcontractors-- subcontractors, and publish where the final documentation, such as models, is shared to the client.

Regarding the BIM Magnitude-- as you know, the stadium is a huge building. And of course, it is the same if we talk about BIM. Here, I show you the most relevant data. In order to understand the complexity of this project, you will be able to understand them with the following explanation.

First, this is a fast-tracked project involving simultaneous demolition, design, and construction activities. The stadium also remained in operation during the entire process. Meanwhile, the construction we have to make the [? As Built ?] models, and after that we obtain the record models, and finally the facility models, too.

Moreover, being able to participate in a project like this, for many of these companies, has been a boost for their digitalization. There were not using BIM at 100% and they have already taken advantage of this excellent opportunity. At FCC, we have used BIM from the tender phase, continuing throughout the design phase, manufacturing, and construction, and finally, reaching as build and facility management phase. At this point, we have enough freedom to use the models in these early phases. I mean, before starting the match, according to our needs and the construction needs. And we have continued developing the whole work, or the whole match, with this methodology.

Due to the complexity of the project and its size, it has resulted in a large number of models which have been divided according to 12 disciplines, starting from existing conditions, architecture, structure, facilities, and envelope, among others. Besides [INAUDIBLE] his time, these disciplines are divided into 11 zones. We find the four main zones like north, south, east and west, and additionally, the technical gallery, the parking lot, the bowl with the stands, the roof and the facade, making a total of more than 300 models at its maximum peak. As you see here in the model breakdown structure, for example, by zooming it on the west area, we can see the number of models involved in.

FCC took a significant role in designing the new structure-- for example, the fixed cover and the retractable one, and the facilities, too. Collaborating with major engineering firms, for example, [? Teqsa ?] for architecture. For other disciplines, such as the envelope, we have the collaboration with ARUP. The design of the envelope louvers began with the exploration of the reflections in the surroundings of the neighbors. The louvers will tilt to change this reflection and more than 682,000 of different configurations were analyzed, using mainly Gaussian functions to provide the result. As you can see here, they use rhinoceros for geometric development, and with Dynamo was incorporated in Revit for the parameterization in the louvers.

DANIEL: [INAUDIBLE] Laura. And as a designer, I feel fascinating to understand the ideation of such fantastic facade. Now, design [INAUDIBLE] get plan and execute. And here is where FCC takes the lead. The referee whistle and the match starts.

LAURA: And here, the game starts with the winning strategies on the pitch. First of all, I want to explain to you what the project is about, mainly at the structural level. The alternative structural proposals use a basic two cable stayed trusses in an east-west direction and four in a north-south direction, which transfer the vertical loads to four newly construction elements. On the west are two newly evacuation towers and on the east, two new executive [? pilots ?] located within the existing towers. The horizontal loads are transmitted to the two new towers and to the new building, limiting movements to the thermal conditions.

The project, as I told you, is a remodeling. It's not a new construction. When we started the match, the main point was received and audited the existing condition BIM models. For this purpose, we have LiDAR technology to make scans on site. So the first step was to take a few laps around the stadium to visually detect them and the areas to scan. Once the scans were completed, the information was proceeded with magnetic collage and from where we exported a format suitable for Autodesk software.

We decorate point cloud format. We proceeded to open it with ReCap Pro to modify the coordinates. Visually, the cloud was in coordinate-- in absolute coordinates, and we need it in relative coordinates to be able to link them to Revit. Once the coordinates were changed, it was exported to a RCP or RCS and these in turn were ready to table for Revit. Based on this information, we proceeded to modify some geometry in Revit if it didn't match its location exactly. So little by little, the existing condition models were completely updated.

The construction works began and we did the construction of one of the first elements, the roof. Made up almost entirely of steel structure, that's why Auto [INAUDIBLE] was used for its design and manufacturing. However, with the integration of geometry in [? IC Sim ?] was enough for us to link it to Revit for coordination and visualization tasks, as well as in BIM 360.

Now I want to show you one of the construction videos where the main trusses of this fixed roof. It was very exciting to go work in every day and see the construction progress.

The manufacturing company did an excellent job of coordinating, as we did. Both the Tekla model and the FCC were shared so they could design and manufacture each joint and each profile in maximum detail based on our design model.

But all this hasn't been so easy. And as the Real Madrid coach says, "football is a sport in continuous evolution and we must adapt and learn new tactics." And this is what happened to us since almost the beginning of the match. Or what's the same since the beginning of the construction site, because suddenly the COVID pandemic appears. And having chosen this methodology from the early stages, it helped us in the inflection moments, such as in the pandemic, or for example, in the Filomena-- Filomena storm, which for those who do is a storm which took place in January 2021, and it was able to paralyze the city of Madrid for a week.

DANIEL: We all remember about COVID times. And in Spain, everyone remember about the Filomena storm. Those are two challenges nobody was expecting. I'm very interested, Laura, to know how you face them and you manage to keep a high coordination level internally and also with external stakeholders.

LAURA: Indeed, it was in those hard moments where the importance of digitalization and the use of different softwares in day to day tasks became essential. These were the main softwares we used to continue developing our work.

A clear example was the resolution of issues in the models with BIM Collab and the Navis federated model among all the participants. Views the users were created in Revit with BIM Collab plugin. The geometry is referenced to an issue of the platform. Then, when exporting to Navis and with the same plugin, we can check them in context.

DANIEL: So, Laura, it appears you had managed all the aspects very effectively. I hope we don't get any other unexpected issue.

LAURA: I'm afraid it was not so smooth, Daniel. And just in case the pandemic and the Filomena storm had not been exciting enough, in addition to the difficulties inherent to a project of this caliber, they score a goal for us. What I do mean? While the war had already begun, the hypogeum project was added to the design for which, being collaboration, was decisive to ensure a good feel within the stadium.

At this point, in the middle of the match, we have to propose new tactics, such as changes in the team organization of the war, and as well as in the shuttle. This new setback to take into account is a 30 meter deep pit divided into six levels where the grass straights measuring 105 meters long and an 11.6 meters wide and waiting approximately 1,500 tons each one. And they are housed vertically so that all of [INAUDIBLE] can be present. We can imagine its size-- we are talking about a space similar to an 8-storey height apartment complex, as you see here in that image.

As you can see the physical magnitude and the importance of this new element, to take into account and coordinate with the rest of the new spaces and structures. It's a space excavated in the Western area of the field, whose function is to allow the soccer field to be stored in small plates, to keep it inside with a specific climate conditions while the field remains empty and ready to have our other activities, such as conventions or concerts. In short, a great work of avant garde engineering.

If we continue talking about task coordination on site and between different areas of the stadium, for example, in height, as was the case of the hypogeum, for example. This is necessary to mention the use of Synchro, which we use from Revit, supported the 3D models with the plugin. In order to import them in the 4D software, [INAUDIBLE] with it the Microsoft Project schedule, too. For this reason, we highlight the interoperability between different commercial software.

DANIEL: When you use the interoperability service of different software company to cover for the capability level.

LAURA: Yes.

DANIEL: We are in the middle of the football match, in the break. And I will say, please remind us the result, Laura.

LAURA: Before starting the second half, making a brief summary, we are losing one zero. However, until the end of the match, we will not know how it ends.

Here, we took our best tools to manage the construction stage. We work from the cloud to the pitch, making what we dream of a built reality. We download and federated all the updated models of trades and subcontractor. We saw the uncoordinated-- the geometry to be executed. We met with all those involved in its construction and we look for solutions when something does not fit correctly or properly.

Regarding the coordination with fabrication companies and FCC, they develop and model the entire metal structure with Tekla. Therefore, the use of IFC and open BIM has been very important. Later, when it came time to share the models, they apply-- upload them to the [? CD ?] our single source of truth. Here, I have to say that it was with this project and in addition to others that FCC, we obtain the ISO 19650 certification in 2022. This means that we follow all the information management standards throughout the entire useful life of an asset.

Now I'm going to show you an example of construction work. It was at the end of 2022, early 2023. This metal slab was being executed. It was concreted in the southeast area near tower A, and it was at the same time the fabrication company were finishing designing joints of the steel structure of the envelope that could be placed in this upper area from the detailed design models. So this was the workflow we follow.

Another important use within BIM 360 for tracking models, it has been the version comparison function in the [? CD, ?] mainly to use those changes and modifications implemented in. This is an example of the metal structure of the facade between two manufacturer's earlier models. It allows us to see all the objects and the extent to which they have modified-- modified.

In addition to these 3D coordination tasks, the models were also used for quantity analysis. So three methods-- Navis work, [? Vecksle, ?] and costed with Presto. Mainly on-site production team used Navis for this purpose. In this way, the production team obtained information on quantities. They filter an area of the stadium, or a category to analyze, such as the pillars of the restructure. Then they divided what was the existing structure-- on the other hand, the reinforcements-- reinforcements executed on those pillars.

The information was also filtered visually.

And of course, it can be exported to Excel if we want to.

DANIEL: Laura, her team, and I spend quite a lot of time together on calls in relation to quality workflows. As a BIM manager, Laura had the vision to link quality workflows to the various objects in the 3D model. When working with model assets, Autodesk Construction Cloud has some additional functionality compared with BIM360. So we evaluate migrating the whole project to Autodesk Construction Cloud. You can imagine that after two or three years of working collaboratively in one single environment, it was not an easy task to manage. And finally, we decided to stay focused on BIM 360. However, this investigation was key to decide that the following project or the company will be recommend always to be set directly in Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Now, Laura, can you tell us how you finally implement the various tools for quality management workflow on site?

LAURA: Yes, of course, Daniel. On site, we have used Field Management to review the quality of the models in their final stage. Until completing the as-build models with this tool, we check whether it was not executed correspondingly exactly to the model geometry and vice versa. To do this, we create users with the sheets and attach all necessary information, such as photographs taken with the tablet-- with the tablet on site and any other relevant information.

Consequently, we made the changes in Revit models in the office and began the process again.

So we coordinated currently between the cloud and the pitch.

Additionally, in this internal model audit process, we just did at the beginning of the work. We performed scans to compare the geometry within Revit with the LiDAR technology.

For their enforcement checks executed in the existing BIMs, we created a monitoring checklist for each BIM. Depending on the site reform-- reinforcement, the information will be added with each element on each sheet, plus the entire construction team made up for the construction manager, the production manager, the topographer and the BIM technician have access to the same information. Finally, with all these tools, we're able to achieve success and triumph in this great match that has been the Real Madrid stadium.

And this-- all this-- all this work, it wouldn't have been possible without the effort and desire to learn from the entire construction team. We have also overcome change management, which is always complicated to achieve. We have learned new tools, new procedures, and most important, we have learned them together. As the coach says, everything is easier with a united team and with the same goal.

DANIEL: Very impressive, Laura. By keeping a strong and unified team, playing all together in a unified platform, you overturn the result of the match in such little time. What is next expecting to ask, Laura?

LAURA: Even though the match has ended, and the team has been irrefutable, we must not forget that the objective is to work making the future. This has been models have to be used for operational and maintenance tasks of the stadium in the next years. Finally from the delivery of the stadium will be enhanced of the management and maintenance by Real Madrid. We share all the models updated until this last phase, obtaining as-build models and later model record models.

The model's delivery to Real Madrid had the geometry updated according to the site execution. At the parameterization level in architecture, we feel [INAUDIBLE] perimeter locating in each room and in map. The information is contained in the installation devices in several parameters.

This information has been dumped from Excel for Dynamo and will allow the club to manage the stadium digitally through as CMS software. The main purpose transmitted for the Real Madrid's facility team are managing the space, for the business model and ticketing, among others. Here, you can see the procedure for dumping the information shared in Excel by the client and how we incorporated it into the model, and it's the case with the architecture rooms. We completely and quickly using Dynamo and dictionary nodes. This file information will serve to use the models within the computer is maintenance management software.

Looking at the general outline of the model processes since we began, we are already in the last phases between the final states of site works and the exploitation stage of the asset. This last stage will be the one that takes the more time. For example, if the construction has last five years, its maintenance will take about 50 years. And that is why we highlight the importance of developing a facility model that will serve the entire life of a stadium.

Regarding the closure of a project, all information created at [INAUDIBLE] up to now must be poured into the corporate technology created in order to organize and store all the projects and works. At FCC, we have Alexandria-- Alexandria, an application based on SharePoint. The dump of all the information is carried out using ACC Connect tool. It's a way-- an automated way once the workflow is established, I mean from the source folder to the destination folder. And it's done by mapping folders.

Just as we map the path of the files, we also map the metadata we are interested in copying, such as the name, revision, phase, position and its final state. Another advantage is that any change or update to the metadata is also reflected in the SharePoint environment.

DANIEL: This automation, Laura, is really impressive. And-- but I find even more impressive to see how you develop it in such a way that you are able to easily scale it globally in all your project at the FCC level, either in BIM360 or for your new project created in Autodesk Construction Cloud. As we approach to the conclusion, I'd like to invite you, Laura, to share about your insights and your final thoughts on this project.

LAURA: OK. Yes, at this point, we have won and we have overcome all the difficulties encountered along the way. But it's not less important to celebrate our success with the audience. The stadium is not only a football-- football stadium, it has become a meeting and entertainment space where concerts and other types of different performances are held. This has been possible thanks to the possibility of hiding and storing the soccer field.

To sum up, due to the nature of this project, without the use of BIM, collaborative work and digitalization will not have been possible. Done it. The combination between demolition, [INAUDIBLE] programs and designs, construction and progress has also been present in the development of the models, in the geometry and in the information of the parameters, too.

On the other hand, open BIM has facilitated the collaboration between all those involved as its company has been able to use a different software according to their tasks or their needs. It was shared with the rest of the company through the CD in BIM 360, and we were coordinated the whole stadium.

And last but not least, I want to finish telling you that achieving all this wouldn't have been possible without the enthusiasm and support of the entire team, who show willingness to learn new software and new methodology from the beginning. Without them all, this wouldn't have been possible. They are such a great team.

And that's all. Thank you for joining us here. And I hope you found the match inspiring. Thank you.