Dive Brief:

• The National Institute of Building Sciences has published a comprehensive BIM guide for building owners to capture greater value from BIM technology.
• Devised for a variety of government, institutional and commercial building owners, the guide outlines steps for creating standardized BIM documents for design, construction, operations and maintenance of facilities.
• Available as a free download, the National BIM Guide for Owners was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and developed by NIBS along with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers and the Building Owners and Managers Association International.

Dive Insight:

Despite broad adoption of BIM across the AEC sector (only 18% of construction firms aren’t using it yet, according to the JBKnowledge 5th Annual Construction Technology Report), building owners have been late to implementing the technology.

"There is still a complete disconnect between design and construction operations," Energy Assurance Solutions founder Craig Stevenson told Construction Dive this week. "Even in the most collaborative environment we are still focusing on silos, and not focusing on the end game goal of operating a top-performing building."

BIM is one of the most significant and widely adopted technology methods employed in the construction industry. According to a July Timetric Construction Intelligence Center (CIC) survey, the majority of construction industry respondents said they believed that BIM is the "future of the industry." 

BIM technology also presents another opportunity for facilities managers to become integrated in the design and construction workflow. As has been the case with sustainable building strategies and programs, governments have been the first to implement BIM mandates. Early last year, the U.K. required the use of BIM on government projects. And in September, Russia announced similar plans, while BIM requirements in the U.S. aren't widespread and instead come from specific government agencies, including the General Services Administration and Department of Veterans Affairs.