by Brianna Crandall — July 24, 2015—Following a multi-year effort, the National Institute of Building Sciences buildingSMART alliance released the latest edition of the nation’s consensus-based standard governing building information modeling (BIM), which the Institute notes is a powerful tool that can change the way the industry designs, constructs, operates and maintains facilities.
From planning and design through construction and operations, the National BIM Standard-United States (NBIMS-US) Version 3 (V3) covers the full life cycle of buildings. Developed through an open consensus process, the new version builds on the previous editions of the standard.
The first edition—United States National Building Information Modeling Standard Version 1 – Part 1 (NBIMS V1P1): Overview, Principles and Methodologies—which came out in December 2007, primarily established the approach for developing open BIM standards. Written by a team of 30 subject matter experts, the NBIMS V1P1 followed an open process, but it was not a consensus standard, explains the Institute.
The NBIMS-US V2 came out in May 2012. Since it was the first open-consensus BIM standard, anyone was able to submit changes to the V2 for review and vote by the Project Committee. NBIMS-US V2 consisted of reference standards, terms and definitions, information exchange standards (which are built upon the reference standards), and practice guidelines that support users in their implementation of open BIM standards-based deliverables.
NBIMS-US V3, like the previous edition, was developed following the consensus process. Out of 40 submissions by building professionals from across the nation and around the world, the Project Committee voted to approve 27 for inclusion in the standard, which now totals more than 3,100 pages of content.
These submissions included such important concepts as the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) Version 2.4, Level of Development Specifications, OmniClass Tables, the United States National CAD Standard, Penn State Uses of BIM, a Virtual Design & Construction Scorecard, and other topics.
A number of other countries, including South Korea and the United Kingdom, adopted applicable portions of the NBIMS-US V2 to serve as the basis of their own BIM standards. If adopted by other nations, as well as businesses, jurisdictions and federal agencies in the USA, V3 could potentially impact billions of people in facilities being built around the world.
The National BIM Standard-United States Version 3 is available as a free download from the Standard’s Web site.
