Halter AG on the Path to Digitalization – with Bluebeam Revu

If you need to efficiently process and exchange documents in PDF format, you need the right software. With Bluebeam Revu, Halter AG has been using the most efficient and comprehensive solution on the market for its day-to-day business for years. Now tried and tested, it’s intended to be used as often as everyday MS Office programs in the future.

Headquartered in Schlieren, Switzerland, Halter AG entered the real estate market in 1918 and is now one of the leading Swiss enterprises for construction and real estate services. Around 320 employees design and implement development projects of all types of use across four business units: Business Development, Developments, Total Services and Renovations. The company also stands out through the sheer size of its investments. Its previous projects include the Mall of Switzerland in Ebikon, the Limmatfeld residential complex in Dietikon and the renovation of the Neumarkt shopping center in Oerlikon. Halter AG and its sister companies always aim to harness synergies over the entire life cycle of real estate and to integrate new processes to boost productivity in the real estate world.

Digitalization strategy: the best program for every application

The Renovations division, which employs more than 50 people, is an example of this. They develop needs-based complete solutions for conversions and renovations throughout Switzerland. The services that this division provides include usage optimization, strategic planning and feasibility studies, profit and yield assessments as well as managing planning, approval and execution processes. For these projects, the enterprise relies on various IT solutions in line with the Halter Group’s digitalization strategy – meaning it can offer a flexible approach. Halter AG always uses the program that promises the biggest benefit for the particular application. Today, this includes Bluebeam Revu.

Bluebeam Revu: current applications

Bluebeam Revu has been part of the enterprise’s software portfolio for several years. Bluebeam Revu allows you to compare drawings based on PDF files. Volumes and areas can be calculated, markups can be adjusted and much more. Moreover, the software offers tool chests such as construction site equipment and construction cost planning (BPK, E-BKP-H and E-BKP-T). Halter uses the solution primarily for quantity surveying and to import the results into bills of quantities. With this information, Halter AG supplements the Excel tools developed in-house for calculations involved in building construction and functional compilations in conversions.

Bluebeam Revu: developing from the bottom up

Thanks to the high level of acceptance among employees, Bluebeam won’t only be used as a measurement tool in the future, but also for managing building requirements, construction site set-up, logistics concepts and more. Wherever possible, standards are laid down, freeing employees from administrative tasks. The groundwork was laid by construction manager and Bluebeam specialist Ramiz Beadini. His responsibilities include further developing applications using Bluebeam software and providing the necessary support in the Renovations division. The method behind this approach is to guide the entire team on the path to digitalization and to cultivate a bottom-up approach.

Step-by-step to reach the goal

The first step in developing Bluebeam’s applications in the Renovation division was to take a detailed inventory of who’s using Bluebeam and what features of the software are being used. The results showed that people were using Bluebeam in very different ways and staff were only aware of a few possible applications. A series of training courses were organized to help supplement employees’ knowledge of Bluebeam’s features and applications. And everyone benefits: employees are supported, not over-burdened.

Bluebeam Revu: soon to be as essential as MS Office

Staff want to leverage even more benefits from using Bluebeam Revu, as demonstrated in the Swissotel renovation in Zurich’s Oerlikon district, with an investment of 70 million Swiss francs (78 million USD): construction site equipment planning by importing drone images for improved visualization, the concept for the construction site layout including advertising space, fixed templates for recurring activities, data exchange with other project partners, organization of document management and much more. Because Ramiz Beadini has recognized Bluebeam Revu’s enormous potential: Bluebeam Revu is intended to be used by employees every day – and become as essential in use as Excel and Word are today.