Product academy

SCALIA is Implenia’s in-house configurator, developed to automatically generate a building layout based on predefined building components, ensuring an optimized building design that maximizes efficiency and meets all inputted requirements. The tool generates a real-time performance preview, a circularity assessment, and a cost estimation, thereby enhancing collaboration and decision-making early in the design process. Additionally, it supports the rapid generation of a 3D BIM model, facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the project's feasibility and its sustainability performance and business potential.

Our team offers live demonstrations of the tool's comprehensive capabilities, usually spanning 90 minutes. We manage the operation of the tool for our clients, guaranteeing the accuracy of the entered project information and the components library. As Implenia’s in-house tool, it has been specifically designed and tailored to work with proprietary pre-engineered prefabricated building components, and as such, not available for purchase or subscription. 

In contrast to the traditional project approach, the 'product approach' is a shift away from the project-specific building process to standardized, scalable method. This approach repositions product development to earlier in the value chain and leverages the potential of industrial manufacturing. By doing so, it aims to streamline the design and construction process, reduce costs, and improve efficiencies, much like the automotive industry's approach to producing vehicles in a systematic manner. It's a modern method of construction that aligns real estate development with modern production techniques similar to other industries for better outcomes.

The use of simple, optimizable components provides a multitude of configuration options, enabling design flexibility, supply chain diversification, and significant opportunities for automation and standardization of building design and construction processes. This results in the mass customization of buildings, including hotels, residential units, offices, and other asset categories. The ability to customise shapes, facades, and finishes for each project and structure provides a balance between standardization and customization. As the product approach focuses on customer experience and its evolving requirements, it furthermore allows for continuous improvement based on feedback and market trends.

The degree of standardization in a building is influenced by factors such as its location, type, and features. This process aims to unify repeatable elements to boost efficiency, yet, it also strives to maintain the building’s unique character. Continuous learning and feedback from each project help to achieve greater standardization and broaden the Kit of Parts. Moreover, building codes and standards significantly influence the level of standardization possible, as they establish essential design and construction guidelines that ensure safety and quality, shaping the standardization potential within the industry.

The Virtual Layer is a digital infrastructure that enhances a building's environment by providing smart, user-centric services. It simplifies the integration of various systems to deliver benefits ranging from smart home control, which allows residents to manage lighting, temperature, and security systems remotely, to fall detection, which uses sensors to provide safety for vulnerable individuals. This layer acts as the backbone for a range of services that improve the quality of life for occupants, offering convenience, efficiency, and peace of mind. It's a key element in modern real estate, ensuring that buildings are not only places to live or work but also environments that actively respond to the needs of those who use them.

For end-users, it enhances the living experience by providing smart services such as smart home control or safety features like fall detection. These services not only offer convenience but also contribute to economic benefits by reducing utility costs and promoting sustainability. Furthermore, with the Virtual Layer, the building provides additional benefits and offerings to the end-users in the form of services. 

Operators benefit from the Virtual Layer through streamlined management capabilities. It centralizes data insights to optimize operations and improve customer service, ensuring the building's operations are efficient and responsive to tenant needs.

For real estate investors, the Virtual Layer contributes to the property's value by enabling a suite of services that can be offered during the operational phase, such as smart property features and services. This not only increases the attractiveness of the property, but also opens up opportunities for monetizing data and securing recurring revenues. Additionally, the Virtual Layer supports a lifecycle approach to real estate, with systematic learning to adapt to changing requirements, thereby ensuring strong returns on investment and minimized risks during construction and operations.

We are convinced that satisfied end-users are in the best interest of building owners and, among other things, ensure that there are no eventual rental problems. This requires user-centered development and designing of real estate with input from users, which is still rare in the real estate industry. In other industries, this has long been a reality, and producers know a great deal about their customers and use that knowledge to continuously improve their products. 

Various new methods such as 'Design Thinking' help to systematically integrate the perspectives and needs of users into the product development process. Specifically, for the development of Casitta, we conducted several rounds of quantitative and qualitative surveys with the target group to arrive at a convincing value proposition. Some of the most important insights were finally published in our white paper 'How Best Agers 55+ want to reside and live.' 

Cabanne: The residential product is a contemporary and future-proof solution for the urgently needed affordable living space in Germany and Switzerland. The focus is on the cost-benefit potential and the speed of planning and implementation. We combine functional design with aesthetics and minimize the use of resources, space, and energy over the entire life cycle. 

Casitta: The needs of the target group of Best Agers, people between around 55 and 80 years old, are at the center of the development of Casitta. This affluent and rapidly growing target group is looking for an inspiring living space where they can pursue their active, health-conscious lifestyle in a good neighbourhood. As such, this product anticipates demographic change and the megatrend of health.

Traditional construction projects often produce significant waste both in time and material. For instance time constraints during the development phase frequently prevent design teams from thoroughly optimizing building components in regards to material type, quantities, and performance. In contrast, real estate products were designed more meticulously upfront and also incorporate feedback from manufacturers and property manager to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. This leads to components featuring a high percentage of renewable materials, reduced material input, a high degree of separability, superior quality in terms of health and durability, ultimately leading to lower carbon emissions for any project. 

Fuelled by the European Green Deal, ESG regulations are becoming an increasing key focus in the real estate industry across Europe. Investors seek greater assurance that buildings comply with current and future regulations, making them eligible for subsidies or favourable financing. Real Estate Products addresses this need with a precise understanding of the components and supply chain that is incorporated into the projects. With the help of our configurator, these insights allow us to provide quick and accurate assessments of various sustainability indicators already during the early planning stages. As a result, clients experience fewer surprises, can better anticipate the impact of their investment, and thus, gain a clearer understanding of the sustainability quality of their future buildings.