Construction industry moves toward comprehensive U.S. BIM standard

Earlier this month, nearly 40 business and government leaders discussed the need for a National Building Information Management Program to improve the relationships, performance, and profitability of the AEC industry in the U.S.

The National Institute of Building Sciences convened the meeting of leaders from the increasingly digitalized industry. Participants included executives from Autodesk, Bentley, WSP, HDR, Kieran-Timberlake, and leaders from federal agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Highway Administration.

NIBS has already developed a national standard via a volunteer effort, but it has not yet been developed into a comprehensive standard. The U.S. faces continued challenges in making data interoperable.

“The first step is getting the right people to the table,” said Van Woods, BIM program manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and chair of the NIBS BIM Council in a news release. “We already have an all-star team. I think we need to expand that. We must convene the stakeholders who will benefit from digital transformation.”

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.