NATSPEC BIM - AU BIM Standards

The Australian industry has progressed with the implementation of BIM over many years with the assistance of organisations both local and global. The latest suite of BIM documents to assist with improving productivity are summarised.

Open standards and consistent practices

NATSPEC supports open standards such as those developed by buildingSMART and ISO. With so many stakeholders collaborating in the procurement and management of the built environment, these are essential for reliable communication and the free flow of information.

NATSPEC supports a consistent approach to BIM implementation nationally through the free documents, resources and tools it provides. The consistent use of proven methods, techniques, standards, templates, workflows and tools facilitates BIM implementation and accelerates BIM adoption, leading to greater efficiency, productivity and sustainability across industry as a whole.

NATSPEC National BIM Guide

The National BIM Guide is the central reference in a suite of documents that defines requirements for BIM projects in general. The Guide defines things such as uses for BIM on projects, BIM Management Plan content, roles and responsibilities, collaboration procedures, modelling requirements, documentation standards and digital deliverables.

NATSPEC Project BIM Brief Template

The Project BIM Brief Template is used to outline initial strategic decisions early in a project. It provides a means of documenting client requirements regarding BIM for their projects. By indicating the scope of services required for the project, it allows the project team to formulate an effective response.

NATSPEC BIM Management Plan Template

A BIM Management (execution) Plan (BMP) is a formal document that defines how a project will be executed, monitored and controlled with regard to BIM. One of its main purposes is to make clear what members of the project team can expect from each other – who is meant to do what, and how, and when.

ABAB BIM Consistency

The ABAB BIM Process Consistency Report is a step towards developing BIM process consistency for the digital design, construction and operation of built assets across Australia. It will help governments and industry adopt, implement and align the use of BIM on public projects. In doing so, government and industry will have greater control over quality and achieving financial and strategic expectations. The common framework provided by the Report will drive savings and efficiencies, and support small to medium enterprises (SMEs) transition to the BIM environment – the new way of doing business in the construction industry.

ABAB Asset Information Requirements Guide

The purpose of the ABAB Asset Information Requirements (AIR) Guide is to assist clients and their consultants to define their AIR in order to take advantage of BIM’s capacity to deliver the information about a built asset captured during the design and construction processes to those responsible for its ongoing operation and maintenance.

Getting started with BIM

This NATSPEC BIM Paper is for those who have been seriously considering implementing BIM within their organisation and are now asking ‘What do we do next’?

The paper covers the preparation and planning required by architectural or engineering personnel who want to make implementation happen. It provides general guidance on the topic and discusses some of the issues that need to be considered and decisions to be made during the process.

Open BIM Object Standard (OBOS)

The OBOS is an international standard to promote best practice in BIM object creation. It is for use by all construction professionals – designers, specifiers, manufacturers and BIM content developers – to assist the creation of standardised generic, manufacturer and project-specific BIM objects of high quality.

Being based on open BIM standards such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), the OBOS provides confidence to object authors and, product manufacturers that their BIM objects will be acceptable to end users.

NATSPEC BIM Properties Generator

The BIM Properties Generator is a free online tool for standardising object designations, properties and property names.

It provides an accessible user-friendly resource for selecting properties based on open BIM standards. This streamlines the exchange and interoperability of BIM objects between disciplines and projects to promote productivity and progress across the Australian construction industry.

BIM Value Tool

Although there are numerous studies and articles on the benefits of BIM, it can be difficult for organisations to assess its potential value for their particular purposes.

The BIM Value tool was developed by the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) in partnership with NATSPEC to address this issue.

BIM Value Benchmarking Tool

BIM Value Benchmarking is a free online tool for collecting contract information and calculating the value of benefits delivered by BIM. It was developed by the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) and is hosted by NATSPEC.

Over time, BIM Value Benchmarking will provide historical data to refine decision making regarding BIM implementation.

NATSPEC BIM Brochure

The NATSPEC BIM brochure provides an overview of NATSPEC’s BIM initiatives and resources, including the National BIM Guide, National BIM Portal, ABAB Strategic Framework, and collaborations with the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc).

Download the latest AU BIM Standards brochure Download