Art-Invest Real Estate

As little BIM as possible, as much as necessary, and the project de-risked.

How Art-Invest used a pragmatic 'BIM Basis' approach on the MACO 1927 refurbishment to tame a 1920s building's unknowns without over-engineering the process.

Architectural render of the MACO 1927 office building in Cologne, cream stone facade with tall bronze-framed windows.

The project in one panel.

The facts a peer in your shoes scans first: who they are, what they build, and which parts of Catenda they put to work.

Company: Art-Invest Real Estate
Sector: Real estate developer
Region: Cologne, Germany
Size: €12.5bn AUM · >700,000 m² development volume
Project: MACO 1927, refurbishment of a 17,000 m² 1920s building
Products used: Catenda Hub
BCF ticket management
Mobile model access

Before Catenda, the existing building was the unknown variable.

The MACO 1927 project faced a classic refurbishment problem: a lack of reliable data on a century-old structure. For a developer, that uncertainty is where cost and risk hide, the goal was to manage the renovation's inherent complexity without over-engineering the process or burdening teams with data they'd never use.

“One of the main difficulties was obtaining reliable data for the existing building.”

Stephan Liedtke, BIM Consultant, SMV Innovations

What they did with Catenda.

The team moved the project 'Live' in Catenda Hub and used it as the central platform for design reviews and collision detection, catching structural conflicts in the digital model before they reached the site. Rather than navigating high-barrier software, they focused Catenda Hub on three high-impact areas.

Model-based project management keeps schedule control tied to physical reality; dynamic BCF ticket management creates a clear audit trail; and mobile access ensures site managers always have the latest federated models and 2D plans, essential for executing the high proportion of new timber construction with precision.

What changed once the project had one source of truth.

The pragmatic approach paid off: identifying conflicts in the model significantly reduced the risk of expensive on-site surprises, and digital collaboration proved the most effective way to de-risk a complex development.

By keeping the process lean, Art-Invest turned BIM from a technical burden into a strategic advantage, and the clean, organized data captured during construction gives the facility management team a solid foundation for long-term asset management.

We want to invest as little effort as possible in BIM, but as much as necessary.