70 experts establish strategic roadmap for BIM standardization in Germany

CADENAS with its expertise actively contributed as co-author to the German standardization roadmap BIM, which was published at the end of 2021. The strategic plan was developed on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) by about 70 experts from different industries. It defines the future direction of standardization in the field of BIM. "The BIM standardization roadmap is an important milestone and trendsetting for the digital transformation of the entire construction industry," says Karsten Spieß, head of data management MEP/BIM, at CADENAS GmbH.

The BIM standardization roadmap identifies the prerequisites for the broad application of BIM in practice as well as a framework for proactive, strategic and targeted standardization in this future field. The basic prerequisite for functioning Building Information Modeling (BIM) that can be applied in practice is the collaboration of all players in the various sectors and trades, according to the BIM standardization roadmap. In order to optimize this collaboration, norms and standards as well as the simple exchange of data via common interfaces play a decisive role: The BIM method is intended to increase the efficiency of collaboration between all those involved in the construction process, optimize the implementation time, and improve transparency and planning quality, according to the declared objective of the BIM standardization roadmap.

The roadmap also formulates recommended actions for standardization in the field of BIM. For example, the experts propose a comprehensive digitization of attributes and characteristics in construction standards, among other things. Creating a manufacturer-neutral, electronic component database based on OpenBIM models is also part of the roadmap.

CADENAS offers an innovative solution for digital product catalogs so that manufacturers can optimally provide the information of their components for planners, architects and civil engineers. It enables the HVAC (sanitary, heating, electrical installation, building automation and ventilation/air conditioning) compliant provision of BIM product data according to the guideline VDI 3805, which is the standard for product data exchange of technical and geometric product properties for the planning, design and operation of HVAC systems.

As a rule, many different trades with their specialized planning and CAD systems are involved in construction projects, so Multi-CAD data is essential. Thanks to the flexible data model of the CADENAS technology for electronic product catalogs, component manufacturers can effortlessly provide countless combinations of BIM product data, regardless of the CAD system, level of geometry, level of information, classification or language currently required. The appropriate data can be generated on-the-fly in over 150 native and neutral CAD & BIM formats via a central database.