The joint move comes from the Construction Products Association (CPA), the BIM4M2 working group, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) and National Building Specification.
BIM is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life.
The CPA said: “There is a real and urgent need for accurate, accessible and consistent digital product information. The manufacturer community needs a single and unified approach to product data, using a common language. Manufacturers already have the required information, but a simple and industry-wide approach to product data parameters and templates has until now been a challenge.”
Through this initiative, building and infrastructure manufacturers will have free and ready access to product data parameters and templates that are relevant to their products and have been developed through a defined consensus process. By using the templates outlines in this initiative, manufacturers will be able to supply product information in a form that aligns with the UK’s BIM requirements. Each template defines the minimum information about a product that is required for UK Government BIM projects.
Mark Bew MBE, chairman of the BIM Task Group, said: “When the BIM Task Group identified the client data requirements which are now provided in the BIM Toolkit, we were looking for other communities to work together to provide their own common data requirements. This initiative from the products and manufacturing sector signals an important collaboration from industry which will add significant value and clarity.”
The current product data templates defining the minimum information for Level 2 BIM can be found via this link; further information can be obtained directly from NBS, CPA, CIBSE and BIM4M2.
