BIM, digital twins, autonomous fleets.
An in-house software practice of 1,200 engineers — because a 22 km tunnel needs a 22 km model.
What this discipline covers.
Hextal/Lab is the group's in-house digital engineering practice, founded in 2014 by Thomas Hartmann with three engineers in Delft. Today it employs 1,200 software engineers, data scientists and BIM specialists who build the technology platforms that power every Hextal project.
The practice operates across four domains: digital twins, which create fully parametric models of structures before they are built; BIM coordination, which manages the intersection of every engineering discipline on every site; autonomous survey, which deploys 280 drones to map terrain, monitor progress and inspect structures; and predictive analytics, which uses machine learning to forecast schedule drift, cost variance and safety risk.
Hextal/Lab is not a consulting practice and does not sell its technology externally. Every tool it builds is designed to solve a specific problem encountered on a real project, tested on a live site and refined through continuous feedback from the engineers who use it every day.
Selected works.
Brenner Base — North Approach, Tube T-3
22.4 km twin-bore alpine tunnel beneath the Stubai range. Hextal led the TBM consortium and the cross-passage civils. Excavated material reused as aggregate within a 40 km radius — net-positive on embedded carbon vs. EN 16627 baseline.
Berlin Hauptbahnhof — Southern Concourse
14,800 m² extension, glass-and-steel canopy spanning four ICE platforms. Built without interrupting service.
Maasvlakte III — Caisson Dry Dock
A 1.2 km automated container quay built on a man-made polder.
How we approach this discipline.
Problem-first development
Every tool Hextal/Lab builds starts with a problem observed on a live project. We do not build technology for its own sake. If it does not solve a real problem, we do not ship it.
Embedded deployment
Our software engineers are embedded in project teams, not siloed in a separate office. They see the problems first-hand and iterate alongside the engineers who use their tools.
Continuous feedback
Every deployment includes automated telemetry that measures usage, performance and user satisfaction. Tools that are not used are retired. Tools that are used are improved.
Open standards
All Hextal/Lab platforms are built on open BIM standards (IFC, BCF, CDE) to ensure interoperability with client systems and regulatory submissions.
The people behind Digital Engineering.
Thomas Hartmann
Thomas founded Hextal/Lab in 2014 as a three-person skunkworks. It now employs 1,200 software engineers, data scientists, and BIM specialists who build the digital twins, autonomous survey drones, and predictive analytics that power every Hextal project..
Our digital engineering team includes engineers, project managers, site supervisors and specialist consultants working across the full project lifecycle.
Other disciplines.
Bridges, tunnels, rail & highways.
From cable-stayed crossings to bored alpine tunnels — the load-bearing arteries of European movement.
Renewables, transmission, storage.
Offshore wind foundations, HVDC interconnectors, pumped storage, hydrogen-ready substations.
Quays, locks, dry docks, breakwaters.
If a continent rests on its coastline, we work where the rock meets the salt.