Aikana

Design decisions made early on a building shape how much waste it produces over its life. Aikana, from the German start-up GREENbimlabs, is software that tests a building information model while it is still being drawn and suggests changes to improve safety, material use and life cycle cost.

Simulation inside the design process

The company describes Aikana as the first solution to carry out a full simulation and real-time optimisation of those three qualities for a BIM design. Its pitch is framed as three turns: turning waste into assets, turning buildings into healthier spaces and turning data into insights.

On the first, the software evaluates the circularity of a building, meaning how far its materials can be reused, so planners can choose products and cut the ecological footprint. On the second, it flags the risk of hazardous chemicals in a building, with the aim of improving the quality of life and productivity of the people inside it and lowering maintenance and demolition costs. On the third, it provides verified, structured information about products and materials to help plan maintenance, renovation and demolition.

Content for manufacturers

GREENbimlabs also works with producers on BIM content. One manufacturer asked it for BIM objects in IFC and Revit formats for two of its products, and the company runs workshops for producers on how to prepare such content. It describes its sustainability and facility management content as part of the same effort to make building data reliable.

Projects and recognition

The firm cites a sustainability data strategy and life cycle cost optimisation study for the Rheinbad extension in Düsseldorf, carried out for the investor and operator consortium, as one of its most interdisciplinary jobs.

It lists a number of awards and selections: the Out of the Box.NRW Award 2021, where it took second prize, a finalist place in the PropTech Innovation Award 2021, a top three position in clean technology at the European Venture Contest, and a German Digital Innovations start-up award. It has also appeared at industry events including the VDMA Energy2 Forum and a congress on resource-saving building in the trades, and a trade publication named it among the more disruptive German digital technology start-ups.