BIM for All: Brazilian Construction Company Champions Industry Transformation

As COVID-19 continues to keep people around the world close to home (and, in many cases, sheltering in place), thoughts of travel and adventure are just a dream—for now. But at some point in the future, travelers to São Paulo may find that getting around the city is easier thanks to the work of Camargo Corrêa Infra, which is using BIM (Building Information Modeling) to integrate the Morumbi Metro Station with a suburban train line. Watch the video to learn how the company is passionate about the use of BIM, from customer presales to the construction site.

Andressa Dionizio Padua, Planning Engineer: I realized that I wanted to work in heavy construction because I found the field of infrastructure and transportation very interesting. These are construction projects that people really need, and they benefit a lot of individuals. At some stage in the future, people will get onto a subway train and say, “I was here when this was first built.”

Marcelo Henrique, Quality Inspector: Urban transportation offers people, and the population as a whole, a lot of benefits. At the end of the day, we are building this for people to use. Being part of a project that will help anyone to get around, regardless of who they are or where they are going, gives me great job satisfaction.

Januário Soares Dolores, Executive, Camargo Corrêa Infra: When I first began to work for Camargo Corrêa, I realized that there needed to be major changes in how construction projects were managed and planned and in how they were carried out in line with the planning. The big step toward increasing the company’s competitiveness was making BIM available to everyone, ensuring that it could be used on construction sites. Because in the past, it was only used during the customer presales process.

Henrique: I think that I was—and still am—one of the biggest fans of this process because it helps a great deal in my role as a surveyor and in terms of quality in our sector. 

Eudes Dutra, Production Engineer: With the help of the 3D-modeling process—the virtual model—it is much easier for me to show the contractors and the team what the end result will look like. Having the ability to open up projects and access everything online is a huge help. It saves time and is a bonus in terms of quality because I will always have the latest version on my tablet or on my smartphone. The risk of having to make a part or something using an out-of-date version is minimal.

Henrique: Sometimes, you could be at a particular site, a long way from headquarters where the plans were, and you would have to make a round trip of a couple of miles to revise a detail of some structure or another. Nowadays, with BIM, I have it all on hand.

Marcelo Nonato, Virtual Construction Specialist: On the Morumbi Station project, we used a scanner to survey the existing facilities. Because this construction work is integrated into the existing Morumbi Station building and we can access the model via the cloud-based scanning system, we were able to study the projection without needing to access the region where the existing station is located.

Padua: We are at the side of the Marginal Pinheiros expressway, which is very busy. It is an environment that has to be treated with care because any impact there causes great disruption to the city. When we placed the model over this cloud-based survey, it really helped us see the type of problems that we might face and to mitigate those problems during the construction phase.

Nonato: If you only work with a 2D model, a lot of errors can occur. When you switch to working with the BIM system, all the potential problems that you might have on-site can be tackled in advance in a controlled environment.

Dolores: The goal of our company is to be the best construction firm in Brazil. We don’t aim to be the biggest; we want to be the best. This requires operational excellence. 

Nonato: Civil engineering is a fairly conservative industrial sector. To make the implementation of BIM viable, there is a big investment in terms of company culture. There is a transition phase when the construction sector professional feels uncomfortable, but those individuals who manage to overcome this phase start to reap a lot of benefits. Once someone has gotten hooked, there is no going back. They really get on board and realize that it is something valuable.

Dolores: Our goal is to expand the use of BIM because while we are the only ones using it, we cannot access the full potential that the tools offer. So we need the whole chain to use the system, and we have tried to inspire other companies to use it.

Nonato: Camargo Corrêa is one of the first consultants to develop a training course and to offer the market a course specializing in BIM.

Dutra: For us, at Morumbi Station, since we are pioneers in terms of being the first Camargo Corrêa Infra construction site to use BIM and are therefore more familiar with the system at all levels, it is very rewarding and important.

Dolores: I became very interested in the transformation that the construction sector was undergoing—and is still experiencing. I became passionate about helping to lead this transformation.