Jul 22, 2015 -- Today, 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). 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.

“BIM is a powerful tool that can change the way our industry designs, constructs, operates and maintains facilities,” said the vice chair of the NBIMS-US™ V3 Project Committee, Jeffrey W. Ouellette, Assoc. AIA, IES. “The National BIM Standard-United States® Version 3 provides industry professionals with the necessary guidance to set that process in motion.”

Developed through an open consensus process, NBIMS-US™ V3 builds on the previous editions of the standard. The first edition—United States National Building Information Modeling Standard™ (NBIMS) Version 1 - Part 1 (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.

The NBIMS-US™ V2 came out in May 2012. The first open consensus BIM standard, anyone was able to submit changes to the V2, which were then reviewed and voted on 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. Building professionals from across the nation and around the world had the opportunity to offer their ideas. The Project Committee received 40 submissions; the full Project Committee membership 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.

“The NBIMS-US™ V3 came into being through the work of many dozens of volunteers from around the country and different corners of the industry” said Ouellette. “The best way to recognize their efforts would be for the rest of the industry to take this standard and put it into practice.”

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 United States, V3 could potentially impact billions of people in facilities being built around the world.

The National BIM Standard-United States™ Version 3 is available FREE as a downloadable PDF from the www.nationalbimstandard.org website. Get a copy of the standard today.