Tocqueville 13: Construction Design and BIM Management in the Heart of Milan

In the TOQ13 live broadcast on March 25th, organised by Il Quotidiano Immobiliare, Marco Baccaro, Partner at B&B Progetti, and Elena Sofia Iozzi, Project Manager for the intervention, presented the work carried out on the renovation of Tocqueville 13, an office tower built between 1968 and 1972 in the Porta Garibaldi district. The project, commissioned by COIMA SGR and architecturally developed by OBR, saw B&B Progetti support the contractor SERCOS during the construction phase, with responsibility for construction design, multidisciplinary coordination and BIM management.

When the building reveals itself after strip out

On an existing building, the detailed design represents a hypothesis to be verified. “We were somewhat the first to see the building completely stripped after the strip out,” Baccaro explained. “When you strip a historic building, especially one built some years ago, many small things come to light that weren’t in line with the original design.”
After the strip out, a laser scanner survey was carried out, processed as a point cloud and imported into Revit. Comparison with the detailed design model revealed significant discrepancies. “In the model you find a nice flat slab, but then when we removed the suspended ceilings, it wasn’t flat at all,” Baccaro explained. B&B Progetti aligned the existing structures to the point cloud and remodelled the floor slabs, providing the actual space available for building services.

Coordination as continuous production

Throughout the construction phase, from 2024 to the end of 2025, B&B Progetti managed multidisciplinary coordination through a shared CDE platform. “We designers uploaded the model weekly with that week’s progress,” Iozzi recounted, “and coordination meetings were organised based on each upload.” Façade suppliers, metalwork contractors, MEP engineers: all parties worked from an updated and verified information base.
COIMA required a particularly advanced level of information management. Every element in the model, whether architectural, MEP or structural, had to be identifiable by brand, model and year of installation. The information management plan developed by B&B Progetti defined the rules that all designers involved had to follow.

Mediating between design and construction

OBR’s artistic direction maintained ownership of the design throughout the intervention. Finding construction solutions compatible with architectural choices required continuous mediation. “Our job was precisely that: mediating between the contractor and the designers,” Baccaro observed.
On an iconic project in the heart of Milan, value engineering did not affect the defining material elements: it focused on time. “Value engineering here isn’t about ‘spending less to buy that thing’, but rather finding a design solution that saves me three weeks on site,” Baccaro explained. The project was completed on schedule.

Data as the foundation for future management

The BIM model delivered to COIMA is not merely as-built documentation. “This digital model must serve to accompany the building, it must become something like its passport,” Baccaro emphasised. Those who will manage Tocqueville 13 in the coming years will be able to rely on reliable data, verified on site and aligned with the actual conditions.
The interview also touched on the state of BIM in the Italian market. According to Baccaro, the methodology can be considered established for the design of major projects; however, “where we can still say there’s much to be done is downstream of project delivery, meaning facility management, sustainable building management. We’re still somewhat behind.”

Learn more about Tocqueville 13