The dramatic renovation of a historic soccer stadium brought a plethora of challenges to project designers and builders. The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium project in Madrid, Spain, included installation of a new retractable roof and playing surface, along with a shimmering stainless-steel facade, while maintaining nearly the entire seating capacity and not disrupting the schedule of the Real Madrid soccer club during construction.
Relying heavily on building information modeling (BIM) technology, design and construction teams used a host of digital tools to collaboratively address the numerous challenges and complete the project earlier this year. The detailed BIM data is also anticipated to aid operation and maintenance of the facility for years to come. Without the technology, many of the project objectives might not have been achievable, according to project participants.
“Due to the nature of this project, without the use of BIM, collaborative work and digitization would not have been possible,” said Laura Aldea Abad, BIM Manager at FCC Construccion, the project’s general contractor. She recently shared her project experiences at Autodesk University, held in San Diego Oct. 15–17.
The Santiago Bernabeu Stadium project includes a new retractable roof and playing surface, along with a stainless-steel facade. Image source: Real Madris by AS.com o Diario AS.
Transforming a Historic Stadium
The project design called for transforming a nearly 80-year-old soccer stadium into a multi-functional facility, increasing seating capacity from 80,000 to 83,000. Architects von Gerkan, Marg and Partners (gmp), in partnership with L35 Arquitectos and Ribas & Ribas Arquitectos, designed a continuous stainless-steel facade to enclose the stadium and other features, including the Real Madrid Museum, restaurants, and retail space. A retractable roof allows the stadium to adapt to various weather conditions.
A retractable natural-turf field situated above a fixed concrete slab enables the stadium to host a wide range of events in addition to sports. The turf is housed in movable platforms measuring 105 meters long x 11.6 meters wide and weighing approximately 1,500 tons each, which can be retracted into 30-meter-deep pit, divided into six levels. The underground chamber, or hypogeum, was added to the project after construction started, prompting the construction team to “propose new tactics, such as changes in the team organization of the work, as well as in the schedule,” said Abad, noting that “BIM coordination was decisive to ensure a good fit within the stadium.”
Rendering shows underground chamber for movable turf platforms. Image source: FCC. Click image to enlarge.
As a fast-track project, the renovation involved simultaneous demolition, design, and construction activities, with more than 30 companies involved in different stages. The use of BIM has been helpful in detecting possible errors prior to construction, according to Abad. BIM technology also helped the team navigate the pandemic and the Filomena snowstorm, which paralyzed the city of Madrid for a week in January 2021. “Digitalization and the use of different software in day-to-day tasks, became essential. This coordination began in the offices of the participating companies, allowing pre-construction work to continue during these days, thanks to new technologies that enabled remote work,” said Abad.
The team used Autodesk BIM360 as the common data environment (CDE) and Autodesk Navisworks to coordinate models and interference detection. While BIM360 was later incorporated into Autodesk Construction Cloud, the team consulted with Autodesk and elected to stick with BIM360 as the CDE for continuity. “We evaluated migrating the whole project to Autodesk Construction Cloud,” said Daniel Moral Trigueros, Customer Success Manager at Autodesk. “After two to three years of working collaboratively in one environment, it was not an easy task to manage, and we decided to stay focused on BIM360,” he said, noting that FCC will be using ACC on future projects.
With over 300 different models, primarily in Revit format, the team developed a model breakdown structure to track the models and phases. The models were subdivided by work disciplines — such as architectural, structural, and mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) — as well as geographic zones.
Models were subdivided by BIM disciplines and geographic zones. Image source: FCC. Click image to enlarge.
In addition to Revit, the team used Trimble’s Tekla for structural modeling, Autodesk’s Recap Pro for reality capture and coordinate transformation, and Dynamo for automation. As FCC had a significant role in designing portions of the new structure, such as the retractable roof, they collaborated with other firms, such as Typsa for architecture and Arup for the façade design. The Arup team optimized its design by adjusting the angles of steel louvers to minimize light reflections into the surrounding areas. They analyzed more than 682,000 different configurations, using Rhino from Robert McNeel & Associates for geometric development and Dynamo for parameterization of louvers.
For construction modeling, the team exported the 3D Revit models and Microsoft Project schedule information into Bentley Synchro, which enabled 4D modeling of the project, incorporating the dimension of time. This process highlights the importance of “interoperability between different commercial software,” said Abad.
During construction, the team downloaded and federated the models of various trades and subcontractors, coordinating potential issues and developing solutions for those issues. “The use of IFC and OpenBIM, has been very important,” noted Abad. Later, when it came time for subcontractors to share their models, they uploaded them to the CDE.
For creation of as-built drawings, the team used photographs taken on-site with tablets, along with other relevant information, to update Revit models. “In this internal model audit process, just as we did at the beginning of the work, we performed scans, to compare the geometry within Revit,” noted Abad.
Construction began in 2019 and was completed in 2024. Image source: gmp International GmbH and Imagen Subliminal (Miguel de Guzmán + Rocío Romero). Click image to enlarge.
With construction complete, the BIM data is still proving valuable. The as-built models and other information will be used for operation and maintenance tasks at the stadium for years to come. For example, MEP information for installed equipment can be used to track replacement and maintenance of various devices.
The Real Madrid club can also use BIM data to manage the stadium digitally through its computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) for tasks such as stadium space management, ticketing, business modeling, and future modifications. The FCC team is currently wrapping up this phase of the project, transitioning from final construction to operation of the asset. “This last stage will be the one that takes the most time,” noted Abad. “For example, if the construction has lasted five years, its maintenance will take about 50 years. That is, why we highlight the importance of developing a facility model, that will serve the entire life of a stadium.”
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