A few days before the opening of the BIM World 2017 exhibition (March 29 and 30 at Paris-La Défense), four major players in the construction sector have announced that they have developed a guide to new processes in BIM (Building Information Modelling) intended for designers (architects, consulting engineers, principal contractors, in-house engineering) to bring new players into the verification process on the basis of digital models.

Bureau Veritas, Setec Bâtiment, Agence Coste Architectures and Bouygues Construction have formed a partnership. They are working on innovative new BIM processes that introduce the key development of enabling technical inspectors and Health & Security Protection coordinators to issue their assessment on buildings and structures directly on the basis of the digital model, and also allowing principal contractors to sign off directly on the same digital model.

The first phase of work, which is based on current practices, defines how BIM can be implemented today in the process of technical inspection and approvals, and should be of benefit to all players working with BIM. But the project also envisages current technological advances: with innovations such as the BIM Collaboration Format (BCF, a new buildingSMART International standard), technical inspection have started to be incorporated into a collaborative inspection process. Moreover, within a short period of time, new inspection technologies that are more automated and more systematic are likely to result in a shift from optional inspection processes to native integrated inspection processes.

With the aim of encouraging progress in all parts of the construction industry, the four partners offered MediaConstruct, an organisation affiliated to buildingSMART International and one of the key players in defining reference frameworks for openBIM in France, to provide it with the results of their work to enable it to set up a new internal task force that will concentrate on defining and standardising the process of assessments and approvals using BIM.

Bureau Veritas, Setec Bâtiment, Agence Coste Architectures and Bouygues Construction share the same vision of BIM as a collaborative tool enabling all players involved in constructing and operating a building or structure (owners, architects, consultant engineers, contractors, technical inspectors, etc.) to have shared online access to the 2D and 3D models, as well as all the information and characteristics of the objects that compose it, depending on their needs.