|
|
|
|
Plans for a National Building Information Modeling Standard Released . . .
National Building Information Model Standards Committee Launched New NIBS Group Will Create U.S. BIM Standard WASHINGTON, DC---The Facility Information Council (FIC) of the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) has formed a committee to create a National Building Information Model Standard (NBIMS). Building information models, or BIMs—digital, easily managed and shared representations of physical and functional data that define buildings throughout their life cycles—are increasingly seen throughout the public and private real estate and construction sectors as a way to control cost and performance problems associated with inaccurate and incomplete communications. The NBIMS Committee seeks to facilitate life-cycle building process integration by providing a common model for describing facility information, common views of information based on the needs of businesses engaged in all aspects of facility commerce, and common standards for sharing data between businesses and their data processing applications. Use of a common information model is expected to significantly reduce building costs, insurance liability, construction schedules, and operating expense while increasing building performance, safety, building life and occupant efficiency. A 2004 National Institute of Standards and Technology study found incompatible information costs the capital facilities industry at least $15.8 billion a year [see http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/publications/gcrs/04867.pdf). Integrated design/manufacture/delivery information systems have improved quality and productivity in such fields as aircraft manufacturing, retail supply chain management, and steel fabrication. These successes are a key inspirations for the use of BIMs as shared resources for stakeholders at all stages of the building process, from land assembly and project finance through programming, design, and construction, to asset management and maintenance. U.S. government agencies such as the General Services Administration and the Coast Guard are calling for facilities services providers to support virtual building models. Inconsistencies among the several existing open standards and proprietary software standards, however, are seen as limiting BIMs’ potential. The NBIMS effort targets present and future BIM users in architecture, engineering, construction, real estate, facility management and a host of related fields. Still seeking public and private sector participants, the new NBIMS committee already counts some 26 organizations and businesses as charter co-signers, plus over 80 individual working group members. One of six NIBS councils, the FIC developed and updates the U.S. National CAD Standard for computer aided-design. The FIC provides industry-wide support for the development, standardization, and integration of computer technologies and software to improve performance throughout the facilities life cycle. A related NIBS council, the North American Chapter of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), supports an international protocol for open communications among automated building industry information systems through its Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) and buildingSmart program. The new NBIMS will complement IAI efforts by standardizing the way U.S. owners, managers, and their supporting professionals describe the information handled by open interoperable software and networks, at the same time coordinating its efforts with all major open and proprietary BIM systems. Recent announcements by the US General Services Administration (GSA), US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the US Coast Guard (USCG) are an indication of rapid and immediate evolutionary pressures in the capital facilities industry. These government agencies and, similarly, private organizations, now require integrated service delivery approaches, use of ‘virtual building models’ to reduce errors and omissions, and the use and delivery of digital datasets for facility operations, maintenance and renewal; which support improved service delivery, enhanced emergency planning, management and response. The use of a common and open building information model is expected to facilitate these new requirements and reduce delays, errors and liabilities associated with the building process, while improving the performance, economy, safety, and sustainability of facilities in use. In addition to cooperating with IAI, the new committee has initiated working alliances with the Open Standards Consortium for real Estate (OSCRE), the Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC), and the Fully Integrated and Automated Technologies Consortium (FIATECH). In addition, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT), the International Code Council (ICC), the Department of Defense (DoD), the Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE), the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), the US Coast Guard (USCG), and the General Services Administration (GSA) are actively participating in the NBIMS effort. A nonprofit, nongovernmental organization chartered by Congress in 1974, the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., serves as a consensus-based forum of volunteer experts, a bridge between private and public interests in the building community, and an authoritative resource advancing safety, quality, and efficiency in the built environment. ### For More Information Contact: |
|
