Better Building With New International Standards for Building Information Modelling

Allows construction industry to collaborate across projects and national borders

Published: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - 12:00

(ISO: Geneva) -- The global construction industry is booming, bringing with it global construction projects and the need for efficient tools such as building information modelling for managing information. A new set of international standards has just been published to enable building information modelling to flourish across projects and borders, benefitting the industry as a whole.

As populations and economies grow, so too does the need for housing and infrastructure, fueling growth forecasts in the global construction industry of up to 85 percent—or USD 15.5 trillion—by 2030, according to the report, “Global Construction 2030.” More construction means a greater need for efficient ways of working, which is why the 3D model-based approach of building information modelling in delivering construction projects is gaining traction worldwide.

Building information modelling gives architects, engineers, and construction professionals the ability to plan, design, and manage building projects more efficiently. It is growing in popularity, creating the need for an international framework that allows the industry to work together across projects and national borders.

To address this, the first two parts of the international standard, ISO 19650: “Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM)—Information management using building information modelling,” have just been published, providing a framework for managing information through collaborative working using building information modelling.

The standards will enable more widespread use of building information modelling and more efficient building and infrastructure projects, according to Jøns Sjøgren, chair of the ISO technical subcommittee that developed the standards.

“ISO 19650 was developed on the basis of the tried-and-tested British standard BS 1192 and publicly available specification PAS 1192-2, which have already been shown to help users save up to 22 percent in construction costs,” Sjøgren says. “Taking this to an international level not only means more effective collaboration on global projects, but allows designers and contractors working on all kinds of building works to have clearer and more efficient information management.”

Future standards in the series are already under development including:
• ISO/CD 19650-3: “Organization of information about construction works—Information management using building information modelling—Part 3: Operational phase of assets”

• ISO/CD 19650-5: “Organization of information about construction works—Information management using building information modelling—Part 5: Specification for security-minded building information modelling, digital built environments and smart asset management”

ISO 19650-1 and ISO 19650-2 were developed by ISO technical committee 59 subcommittee 13 (ISO/TC 59/SC 13): “Organization and digitization of  information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM).” These standards are available from your national ISO member or through the ISO Store.

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The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO is a nongovernmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society. View the ISO Standards list.