On the 2nd of April 2025, the “Transformation Dialogue” on the topic of “Open Data Construction” took place. Focus was placed on the question "How can open data be used in the construction industry in order to help to make construction processes more transparent and efficient while also promoting innovation?"
The video documentation of the event can be found on our YouTube channel.
The speakers included:
- Dr. Oliver Heidinger, President and Managing Director of the State Enterprise for Information and Technology of North Rhine-Westphalia (IT.NRW)
- Dr. Stefan Höffken, Head of Smart City, Tegel Projekt GmbH
- Prof. Daniel Mondino, Professor of Digital Integrated Process Management – Planning, HafenCity University Hamburg
- Barbara Post-Argomand Khageh, Head of IT for Building Management, City of Cologne
- Moderation: Kai Dolata | Welcome: Prof. Dr. Guido Spars
We would like to thank all participants for their valuable input and the lively discussion. The findings from this dialogue will be incorporated into the further work of the Federal Bauakademie Foundation.
In the ‘Open Data in Construction’ transformation dialogue, we discussed whether the current legal rules and regulations on open administrative data are also suitable for the construction value chain. The answer is not simple. However, if you look at the technical and regulatory framework conditions presented by Oliver Heidinger from IT.NRW – laws which apply to North Rhine-Westphalia for the provision of geoinformation and other data collected by the state – conclusions and learnings can be drawn that would also be applicable to the construction sector.
According to Stefan Höffken, the neighbourhood development project Tegel Projekt GmbH is already applying such principles. The development phase of the approx. 500-hectare site relies entirely on open data structures. For example, environmental monitoring data collected by the Berlin Senate is being used within the project´s sponge city concept. At the same time, Tegel Projekt GmbH also prepares the inventory data of the existing infrastructure in such a way that the information can be made available as open data records. The selection as to which data is made publically available is decided based on security considerations.
This was also the focus of the presentation by Barbara Post-Argomand from Cologne´s Building Management. The city, which has already been working with digital facility management tools for decades, can exchange information across administrations without information loss and prepares non-security-critical data for the city's data portal. This means that anyone can access data via a digital city model and process it for their own use.
Daniel Mondino from HCU Hamburg argued that when collecting digital data, the proportionality between effort and benefit should be negotiated via a social discourse. With regard to construction projects and digital twins of buildings, he posed the legitimate question of whether it really is necessary to have every detail from the outset digitally available or whether it is possible to first focus on use cases in which social value is obvious. Fire safety regulations were cited as an example, for which digital information on for instance escape routes, smoke detectors, fire compartments, etc. could be transmitted to the relevant authorities via a digital building model.
It is clear that open data in the construction industry continues to be characterised by data protection discussions and a lack of standardisation. OpenBIM with its developed IFC standard sets the course for this and also defines access rights and roles. All speakers agreed that the technical infrastructure already exists and is data sovereign despite strong US IT providers. What is missing, however, are clear contracts and sufficient funding.
