BuildingSmart International and the EU BIM Task Group have set out a manifesto for driving openBIM adoption in Europe, including the UK and Ireland.
A new body, the European openBIM Forum, will lead the work. The forum is backed by 21 BuildingSmart chapters, including the UK and Ireland chapter.
Among other targets, the chapters’ representatives want the Forum to:
- support the global effort to reduce the construction industry’s carbon footprint and increase material circularity with common standards and practices for digital information as a reliable basis for decisions;
- assist national governments in implementing and rolling out digital building permits based on openBIM standards;
- enhance the skills of construction professionals and promote their openBIM knowledge through certification programmes;
- expand the use of digital twin technology across various sectors, including advanced technologies such as AI and blockchain;
- encourage the European Commission to fund BIM standardisation, knowledge-sharing events, and workshops around openBIM standards;
- promote unified European standards, services, and tools based on openBIM standards to offer a shared reference for digital construction;
- advocate for the use of open BIM standards in renovating existing European infrastructures; and
- pinpoint the importance of BIM data in a common European security approach.
Exchanging information better
In the European openBIM Fourm launch document, BuildingSmart International and the EU BIM Task Group said: “We must become better at exchanging information to achieve the expected societal benefits [of digitalisation]. Systems and organisations must understand each other’s data, information, and processes.
“For the built environment sector, interoperability can be achieved by applying existing standards both regarding data exchange and processes from organisations such as BuildingSmart International and ISO/CEN. Only with the compulsory use of open standards will the right conditions be created for more efficient utilisation of the data volumes built up by different actors and used in applications such as digital twins, connected facilities, and analysis tools. It will also increase the ability to develop robust digital governance and data security.
“Despite the EU Public Procurement Directive (EU 2014/24) requiring BIM based on open standards, in the significant majority, openBIM is not yet fully mandated in Europe, with only some countries taking the lead on specifying IFC and openBIM as an exchange methodology. It is a goal of this forum to advocate for more examples of openBIM mandates driving change for the better.”
The forum’s plans
The European openBIM Forum will:
- represent the BuildingSmart community to the EC, providing a unified voice;
- engage with the European chapters to understand and collate national perspectives, and use these to inform and support EU legislation and projects;
- communicate EU developments to European BuildingSmart chapters and BuildingSmart International; and
- coordinate European BuildingSmart chapters in their response to EU project calls.
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