BuildingSMART held a workshop on 7 October 2010 at the Building Centre, London, to discuss how BIM can help companies create buildings that are efficient and sustainable in the long term. There were 14 delegates, covering a wide range of perspectives: architecture and engineering, software development, insurance, trade association and consultancy. A number of attendees already had a strong interest in sustainability and are involved in R&D projects for the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Impact Buildings Innovation Platform.

Leading the workshop, Nick Nisbet, buildingSMART’S technical co-ordinator, gave two presentations. The first covered the COBie standard (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange), product data and sustainability.

The data in a BIM is generated by the project participants, so exactly what data is the client entitled to? This was explored in the ensuing discussion, along with the linked question of the nature of the licence (or release) that the architect and contractor should give to the owner to use the project information.

The second presentation looked at how we might share information and the proposed interoperability standards for design and decision tools, which calculate the carbon impacts of a building. Once they are up and running, these tools (currently the subject of research) will need both benchmark data on buildings and data from the building project on which they are used. BuildingSMART is trying to facilitate the transfer of information to and from these tools.

This presentation was also followed by discussion. A further meeting of the group present at the workshop is planned (date to be confirmed). Perhaps the most remarkable outcome was that most participants were confident that shared building information could now be assumed.