Birgitta Schock

Birgitta Schock

Chapter Chairwoman of Switzerland

First name: Birgitta

Last name: Schock

Chapter: Switzerland

Role: Chairwoman

Where do you live? Zurich

Work history: I’ve been working in the construction industry since 1990.

How long have you been involved in openBIM and buildingSMART? I knew IFC for many years but my journey with buildingSMART International was a kind of coincidence through the Acumen7 UK network, where Richard Petrie and I are both members for a couple of years.

What do you like the most about your work in your chapter? The opportunity to promote cooperation within our country and to exemplify what it means to work across "silos" in the future. It's a privilege to foster new business models for all phases and the entire built environment.

What is the greatest success achieved within your chapter? It is a great success to be recognized by the market as an important partner within only 3 years. With the step-by-step plan and the topic of Use Case Management, we have decisively developed contents for the market based on best practice, which are now being further developed in partnership.

What does openBIM mean to you? For me, reliable exchangeable data is the basis for new offers and services. They allow us an infinite number of application possibilities over the entire lifecycle.

What is the biggest challenge the community is facing today? One of the greatest challenges is still the culture of collaboration and the organisational structure. Many of our industry's traditional business models are hindering us and we need to find added value.

What challenges do you encounter in your country? We continue to struggle with the notion that digital transformation is more than just the procurement of technology and that it only brings benefits for a few big players and the small ones cannot keep up.

What are the main opportunities for your market? The client market awakens. This means that large stakeholders are beginning to demand BIM and other methods in tenders and orders. At the same time, however, I also notice that there is still a lack of knowledge, especially at the C-level, among buyers and companies alike. There is no clear idea why it is important to start the change process and that it does not stop at you.

Digitalization is more and more present today; what do you do in your chapter to meet the challenges it poses: We try to be the point of contact for the market and its needs. It is important to consider the personal maturity level. For some it is important to get basic information, for others, it is necessary to have application aids and recommendations. As chapters, we are learning how important the cooperation of the individual drivers and organizations is.

What vision, as a chapter leader, would you give to the whole community? For me, we must see ourselves as a community and help each other. The topic of digital transformation and its technology will be with us for a few more years and it would be a pity if we didn't learn from each other and share.

What is your overall vision of the future? Technology is important. Much more important, however, is that humans recognize how technology helps and supports them in the human-human collaboration.

Would you like to add something else? It is a great privilege to be able to shape the future together in an ecosystem like buildingSMART International and to experience live how mutual respect can bring us and our industry forward.

Chapter Website: https://bauen-digital.ch/de/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/bauen-digital-schweiz/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/bauendigitalch

Resumé:

Birgitta Schock is a partner of schockguyan partner gmbh. Since 2016 Birgitta is Chairwoman of the Swiss Chapter of buildingSMART International and a member of the Executive Board of Bauen digital Schweiz. She is a member and for 2019/2020 the president of the network digital, a coordinating body of the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA), the Competence Centre for Standards in the Construction and Real Estate Industries (CRB), the Coordination Conference of the Construction and Real Estate Organs of Public Builders (KBOB), the Interest Group of Private Professional Builders (IPB), the umbrella organisation of the Swiss Construction Industry and Bauen Digital Schweiz | buildingSMART Switzerland. Since 2019 Birgitta is a member of the Board of Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) responsible for digital transformation and member of the board of Minergie Switzerland, a construction standard for new and modernised buildings