The image displays a logo with a red geometric shape on the left side and the acronym “NSAI” in bold red letters on the right side. The logo is set against a light-colored background.

NSAI on BIM Standards

07 February 2018

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) has recently declared its position on the recent official publication from the National BIM Council regarding the direction the Irish Construction Industry will be taking between now and 2021.

The NSAI welcomes the recognition in these strategy documents, of the key role that Standards and Certification will play, to drive consistency, efficiency and productivity in the Irish construction industry. This has raised some enquiries about what standards are currently available for use and what the NSAI are doing in relation to BIM.

In the broadest sense, the standards cover the production, management and exchange of architectural, engineering, construction and operational information, regarding the build environment. These standards detail specially with the process for structuring electronic or digital building information using BIM. BIM refers to the use of a shared digital representation of a built object, to facilitate the construction and operation process, including building and infrastructure. BIM is relevant to planning, design, construction and operations of build assets, to form a more reliable basis for decision making and management.

In 2016, the NSAI established a national mirror committee for BIM, to monitor standards development work already being carried out by the European Standards Committee for Standardisation (CEN) technical committee CEN/TC 442, as well as the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) ISO/TC 59/SC13. Under EU regulations, once CEN begins working on EU standards, members states are precluded from developing or maintaining conflicting national standards, but can actively participate in, contribute to, or monitor the work at CEN or ISO level. Since there are currently no national standards in this area, NSAI will not be developing any new national standards but will continue to contribute to the work at CEN and ISO through the national mirror committee.

A Unified Approach

At Varming Consulting Engineers, we have been pioneering BIM technology for many years and we understand that its inevitable rollout across the entire construction industry will require a common set of standards for every EU member state to follow. It has to be case of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ this happens for sake of everyone, including the Irish construction industry.

Additionally, with influencing factors like Brexit on the horizon, it is imperative that soon to be non-EU member states like the UK also adopt a similar approach.

For more information on anything described above, visit our website www.varming.ie or give our Dublin office a call on 01 4872300 for a more in-depth chat about how sustainable design and BIM can be employed to make your building project more resource efficient.