STRABAG Real Estate + SquarePlan – Faster Decisions, Faster Leasing
Conversation with the STRABAG Real Estate leasing and technical teams of Upper One — a 131.5-meter-high office building.
Total GLA of the office building: 36,050 sqm (504,827 sqft).
SquarePlan: What are the biggest changes that STRABAG Real Estate experienced in commercialising Upper One, that came from using SquarePlan?
STRABAG Real Estate: Oh, there are many, but I'd summarise it with one word: speed.
SquarePlan: So where are you saving the most time?
STRABAG Real Estate: The largest amount of work is probably saved in getting to a detailed cost estimation — we generate a full technical design with SquarePlan, this gets us to a full bill of quantities in minutes. Then we apply the product standards and we have a +/− 5% accurate cost
estimation on day 1. This is revolutionary.
SquarePlan: It was by far the hardest module to build, so we're delighted to hear that.
STRABAG Real Estate: We also use it to check and challenge our suppliers. Normally you have few strong arguments to challenge cable amounts or lighting fixtures at early estimation stages, but now we have a bill of quantities and technical drawings on day one to back it up. It generates
serious savings. And actually, we get faster and more accurate quotes when we send technical drawings and a bill of quantities. The first time we did that, the contractor called us to ask if we really designed it all before estimating. He must have thought we're insane or that we have an
engineering army in-house.
SquarePlan: I thought the first thing you'd mention would be the Augmented Reality feature — I saw the LinkedIn post that got incredible traction.
STRABAG Real Estate: Yes, that's the immediate "Wow!" effect for the potential tenants. In the past an architect would run around with a printed testfit, trying to explain to a potential tenant where what will be placed. Most people are not great at understanding spaceplans and
architectural drawings, so it was a painful process. Now we just pull out a tablet, and it works like a magic window to a finished fitout. People absolutely love it. We had brokers film our tenant tours.
SquarePlan: What's the biggest benefit in that?
STRABAG Real Estate: It's probably two things. One, people understand the space much, much faster and we get decisions faster. Secondly, people tend to underestimate the spatial capacity of a floorplate. They worry if they can fit — we'd show a testfit, and they would still have doubts.
Now they walk with a tablet and see it all live and in 1:1 scale. It's a game changer.
SquarePlan: Does it help you win business?
STRABAG Real Estate: For sure. We had a Swiss client who couldn't get their CEO to fly over, so they sent them a VR link we generated with SquarePlan…
SquarePlan: …in 30 seconds…
STRABAG Real Estate: …yes, it's that quick, but in any case, the CEO went on a VR walk without leaving his Zurich office and approved taking the space here and there. I think this put us ahead of other office buildings in the city.
SquarePlan: What do potential tenants react to the most?
STRABAG Real Estate: It's probably the AR. We had an EU governmental client who just couldn't believe this is possible. The cherry on top is where you can type or say a prompt during a VR/AR walkthrough and whatever you see changes into the design style you requested. I've seen people
requesting specific furniture and in seconds they saw it on screen.
SquarePlan: Thank you for the conversation — it's probably our favourite case study so far!