AEC (UK) BIM Technology Protocol update published!

The AEC (UK) team is pleased to announce that its BIM protocol has been updated and is now available for free download from the Documents page: AEC(UK)BIMTechnologyProtocol-v2.1.

The updates represent changes to the protocols to bring it into line with current UK standards, and to ensure the focus is on implementation of those standards when using BIM authoring technology.  Chair of the AEC (UK) initiative, Nigel Davies, explains: “Our industry is changing rapidly. When the last revision of the BIM protocol was published, PAS1192-2 hadn’t even been released. We’ve re-worked the AEC (UK) BIM document to align with those workflows.”

Nigel is also keen to point out that it is not a competing document: “That’s important to understand, and the reason why we’ve renamed it ‘BIM Technology Protocol’. The AEC (UK) is here to provide practical guidance for adoption of the British Standards. You’ll see references to PAS1192 throughout. What we aim to do is to make those standards more accessible to the person in front of a PC, those who may not be involved with EIRs or the BIM strategy, to help them understand what they need to do with their models to be compliant.”

An update to the AEC (UK) Layer Naming is now in progress to align with Uniclass 2015 and should be available shortly.

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AEC (UK) BIM Standard for Revit

Download the AEC (UK) BIM Standard For Revit v1.0 now!

The AEC (UK) BIM Standard, released in November of 2009, was developed as a generic document referring to the techniques and concepts utilised in using BIM technology. It was intended to be applicable to all software platforms.

This larger document looks to interpret and expand those concepts with specific reference to Autodesk Revit, supplementing it with further best practice and practical policy. Working practices which conform to standards such as BS1192:2007 are also incorporated to allow this document to work alongside current project management and document control protocols.

In short, if you represent a design practice which is looking to adopt BIM methodology and has chosen to use Revit as the primary tool to do so, then this document should cover your requirements.

This standard is provided as a template to download and incorporate into your office or project protocols. Although this standard has no legislative backing, it is written in the context of rules to be followed rather than points to cover. Companies and individuals downloading the standard are free to take on as much or as little as they wish, but the wider acceptance of the document as an industry standard would require that it remain as close as possible to the original form.

Future releases of the Standard will look to cover technological advances and the wider BIM ecosystem, incorporating other professions in the design and construction process, such as Quantity Surveyors, Specification Writers, Fabricators, Manufacturers, Contractors and Facility Managers.

Above all, the authors hope that this is a clear, concise and readable explanation of working best practices in Revit and a solid foundation for efficient collaboration and communication.

This is a live project so please feel free to email the committee on paul@revitguru.com if you have any comments or feedback.

Paul Woddy
Revit Sub-Committee Chair

AEC (UK) BIM Standard in preparation for release

The AEC (UK) Committee is working on the final wording of the new UK BIM Standard. The document is to be released on the 16th November 2009, with corresponding object libraries for Autodesk Revit and Bentley Building products scheduled for mid- to late-January 2010. Following the initial release, the AEC (UK) committee will be seeking to provide further compliant content from manufacturers and for other BIM software.

AEC (UK) BIM Standard draft for comment now available

The AEC(UK) Standards group have been working towards developing a standards & guide documentation for BIM. We are please to announce that a draft of the AEC (UK) BIM Standard has been released for comment. It is available for download from the CAD Managers Forum*.

All comments should be returned to Nigel Davies (nigel@evolve-consultancy.com) no later than 30 October 2009. The comments will be reviewed at the start of November with an aim of publishing version 1.0 later that month.

AEC (UK) BIM Standard to lead the way

Users of industry leading Building Information Modelling (BIM) software have asked for a common approach to collaborating with engineering data.

Although BIM is now widely accepted as the route to a better quality of Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) design output, there is a distinct lack of common approach across the industry. This absence limits wider adoption of BIM, minimises the return on technology investment made by companies and forces them to continually re-invent disparate processes and software content. Without any practical or independent guidance in place, and following requests by software users, the AEC (UK) Committee has undertaken to produce a BIM standard. The AEC (UK) BIM Standard will address the needs of design organisations whose projects demand operating in a multi-disciplinary BIM environment to connect their design geometry with engineering, scheduling, cost analysis and sustainability technology.

In addition to a published document, the AEC (UK) Committee aims to provide configurations and online content for both Autodesk and Bentley Systems BIM software. To achieve a practical implementation approach across platforms, the Committee has welcomed new, expert members from the UK Revit Community.

The first release of the AEC (UK) BIM standard is anticipated for October 2009 and there will be opportunity by the UK BIM community to shape its future development. This reflects earlier, successful collaborative efforts by the Committee to produce the AEC (UK) CAD Standards. Further details about the Committee’s work can be obtained by emailing the chairman, Nigel Davies at nigel@evolve-consultancy.com.

AEC (UK) Committee, May 2009