Carpus+Partner: Buildings that Cultivate Knowledge

Carpus+Partner: Buildings that Cultivate Knowledge

Digital Support for Complex Construction Projects

The challenge: time-consuming paper documentation and transparent communication in the team and with external partners

Markus Conrads has a background in planning. Working primarily as a project and construction manager at Carpus+Partner, you will usually find him at the heart of the action on the building site.

In his experience, creating high-tech buildings or laboratories can be very complex. Custom material requirements and special safety precautions, for pharma properties in particular, mean constantly changing project management demands. The standard work for each project needs to be completed, while also fulfilling the sometimes demanding conditions placed on buildings for particular sectors. The construction should proceed quickly, comply with all specifications and, of course, meet the company’s own quality standards. So not an easy undertaking ⁠— but that is part of the appeal for Markus Conrads.

Another aspect also makes his project work more challenging. The construction manager mainly communicates with external partners, clients and suppliers in his role. In this context, his main challenge is managing the conflicting demands of logistics, material and communication flows to ensure that processes are as smooth as possible. This was extremely laborious in the past. He used to document defects or anomalies with paper and a pencil, while carrying folders full of plans and a digital camera. Back in the office, Mr Conrads first had to summarise all the information again, assign it correctly and then send it by e-mail to the respective project participants. There was no platform that all workers could access at all times. As a result, recording and communicating data took a lot of work and time.

The solution: using PlanRadar to collect information easily and quickly create reports

Conrads wanted an option to simply and transparently communicate information within the team and with external partners, in order to quickly and efficiently compare the current and target state of a construction project. Other departments at Carpus+Partner were already working with PlanRadar, so he had already heard of the application. But there was another reason that he started independently working with it. In this first project, the client encouraged all the project workers, including Conrads, to use PlanRadar as a single tool for communication about the construction process. He lost no time in getting started and it turned out that PlanRadar was also the perfect tool for Markus Conrads and his own projects.

With PlanRadar, the project manager collects information on the construction site throughout the day using his smartphone, locates anomalies on digital plans, and coordinates the next steps thanks to the simple handling and free integration of subcontractors. Thanks to PlanRadar’s flexible form and report templates, Conrads can generate a report at the end of the day in no time and send it to all the relevant people. All data and information are stored within the software and can be viewed by all workers at all times. PlanRadar is easy to use, which is why Carpus+Partner also recommends the software to its clients as a single documentation and communication tool. The software has proven to be reliable both in the construction phase and when the property is in use.