Szabadics pioneering the use of BIM in infrastructure

Szabadics Építőipari Zrt. was present as the main sponsor at the Contech Construction Conference held in Balatonfüred on 15 October. which our newspaper reported on in detail as the main sponsor of the event.

In terms of topics, Szabadics focused mainly on infrastructure and utilities development, given its main field of activity. Accordingly, Szabadics Roland participated in a round table discussion on the topic of InfraBIM, entitled "The digitisation of built networks connecting our cities and buildings".

Management itself spearheaded the introduction of the BIM

During the panel discussion, Roland Szabadics also looked back at the key milestones in the introduction of the BIM at the company. One of the highlights was when they created their BIM strategy in 2023. "Management defined what the target was, then we built from within, gradually bringing in the lower levels."

As a starting point, eight of them have completed the BIM engineer course, including Roland Szabadics. He noted as a significant element that Szabadics's BIM working group includes not only professional engineers but also senior and middle managers. "It was important for us to build our BIM environment ourselves, while of course bringing in external help."

Pioneering the domestic infrastructure application of BIM

He said that, although, unlike in the case of building construction, such customer requirements are not yet common in domestic utility development projects, the Szabadics has identified pilot projects to test the operation of the BIM and the results that the BIM can deliver. One of these was an own investment in a building construction project and the other was a public utility development project KEHOP. The latter was the first KEHOP water quality improvement project in Hungary to be implemented on a BIM basis.

According to him, the company has been in a constant state of development and improvement: "We were at the beginning of this journey, but we have jumped on the same boat as other major construction companies."

This tool can bring a change of dimension in the preparation of projects

As a further important element of the digital switchover conference, Szabadics presented on its stand the company's ground penetrating radar, a solution for mapping underground cables. "This is a joint development with the University of Pécs and the University of Esek in Croatia," said Roland Szabadics.

The leader pointed out that the most important thing in utility construction is the baseline data, which is not visible once the networks run underground. "One means of obtaining information is the map file, but it is very outdated and unreliable; another is mapping by manual excavation, but this is costly and time-consuming. Therefore, ground penetrating radar can greatly improve the efficiency of the preparation work." Szabadics Roland said that this tool has not yet been widely used in the domestic construction industry, with only a few companies starting to use it.

At the Contech Conference, however, the Szabadics also exhibited a pipe inspection camera, which provides asbestos pipe failure detection. Gábor Kazsik Kazsik, Managing Director of Asbestos Diagnostics Kft., also gave a stand-up presentation about this device at the conference.

The man behind the BIM must be there

In a statement to our newspaper, Roland Szabadics also pointed out that technological advances alone will not solve the problem. "We believe that if there is no human being behind the tools, who finds his own calculations and motivation in them, then it is worthless."

He concluded by highlighting another important factor. "For infrastructure, the new state regulation has set a broader deadline: for water construction, BIM will become mandatory in 2027, and for utilities in 2028. This may seem like a long way off, but thanks to our pilot projects, we know that there is still a lot to do to create the conditions. One of our objectives at the conference was also to signal that there is a serious catching up to be done by all stakeholders in this area, and that this will take time. We also believe that it is our responsibility to feed back our experiences to decision-makers."