The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), in collaboration with industry players, has developed guidelines for the law regarding digital deliveries in design’ and created contracts for multiple construction project types. Two conditional appendices can be attached to existing assignment contracts to help establish the legal landscape for the adoption of BIM.
This website contains several PDF documents that can be downloaded and used to apply BIM into the contractual requirements of a project. In the terms and conditions annexes, the parties can regulate, among other things, the right of use of and responsibility for the digital information and can also give it a legal status to be equated with descriptions according to the contract documents.
The purpose of these guidelines (Riktlinje BIM i project) is to:
- Give recommendations to create the processes and undertake the organisational transformation that BIM projects require.
- Be an aid in the development of project-specific requirements for BIM.
- Create an opportunity for the organisation to use the model and information created in the project with the help of BIM.
The goals of using BIM in design, construction and later operations are to:
- Facilitate the exchange of information between all actors in a project, including the transfer of structured information for management.
- Ensure information quality at all levels.
- Coordinate the work of designers and contractors, by exchanging information in a consistent and structured way.
- Utilise various BIM benefits such as for quantity surveying, cost estimation, energy calculation as well as scheduling. In addition to this, BIM models can provide many other purposes and benefits such as to provide opportunities visualization and detailed studies.
It is the responsibility of each project manager to choose the application areas within BIM and to establish a project-specific BIM manual for controlling work process and information exchange. This should be done in consultation with all stakeholders.
BIM can be used in the project for orienteering information about the building, the technical information base, visualisation and surface calculation among others. In the long run, it will be possible to provide information to other databases within the company’s management.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
The purpose of this document (Informationshantering i förvaltning) is to support and inspire organisations in their work delivering projects to increase information management and information coordination with the help of BIM. It describes a number of examples that can facilitate the understanding of how BIM and information management can be implemented in the business. In addition to this, a number of relevant BIM benefits are described alongside how these can be achieved.
Information management is strongly linked to the administrative processes of many organisations. All IT systems that have the task of managing the company’s information must work as a support system for business processes. This in turn means that if you are to implement BIM within your organisation, the BIM approach must support the business’s processes. To succeed with the implementation of BIM, you must therefore start from the organisations’ processes and understand those different activities’ need for information. This document will help to guide you through the management processes and how BIM can be implemented.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
The Development Process for BIM (Utvecklingsprocess för BIM-nyttor) highlights the main goal of the introduction and use of BIM as value creation that can be measured. With the introduction of BIM comes investments in software, hardware and personnel resources. There are also changes in work processes and organisation. This guide provides support in the development of BIM benefits to meet different information needs in the activities associated with projects and project management.
The target group for this guidance is business developers, information managers and IT managers responsible for the implementation of BIM within an organisation. To answer how BIM should be implemented and used, the question needs to be broken down and linked to the needs and goals of the business. This report outlines the development process for how this can be achieved. Carrying out the activities in this process will result in a specified set of requirements for the scope, content and execution of BIM. Furthermore, the development process provides an implementation plan with intermediate goals on how to implement BIM within an organisation.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
Akademiska Hus AB, the Swedish Fortifications Agency, the Riksdag Administration, Specialfastigheter Sverige AB and The Swedish Real Estate Agency have agreed to cooperate in order to promote the development and use of BIM in management and construction projects. The five organisations have worked together to develop a uniform strategy for working with BIM. This BIM strategy document (Strategi för BIM i förvaltning och project) introduces a common way of working and includes requirements for the use of BIM in projects as well as collaboration on the implementation of BIM in project management. The purpose of the collaboration is partly a joint efficient use of resources in the development of the working method and partly to reach a common clear set of requirements that will lead to a more efficient information management process.
This document describes in general terms the background, vision, goals, format and action plan for BIM implementation. It also outlines how the management of the framework is intended for continued development and improvement. The need to be able to handle all information digitally is increasing all the time in the construction and real estate sector, the concept of BIM is now widely accepted. It is important to remember that BIM must be able to be used at all stages of a building’s lifecycle.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
BIM Alliance Sweden is a sector-driven, non-profit association that works for better community building with the help of BIM and digital structured information management. The Alliance has a vision and purpose of promoting a digital uninterrupted flow of information through all processes in the public construction sector. This will be done by working for the implementation, research and development of digital processes for information and open standards among all stakeholders, as well as for competence in the area. The Alliance aims to drive the social changes needed for digital transformation and renewed business logic, to promote a positive and sustainable development in planning, construction and management.
The BIM Alliance Sweden’s board has identified seven strategic areas that are crucial in the coming years:
- Information dissemination / network
- Information standards
- Processes / organisation
- Law / procurement
- Research and Development
- Training
- Environment.
The website contains the latest information around current news, membership, projects and other documentation useful for the adoption of BIM.
The purpose of the EU procurement rules, underpinned by the Treaty principles, is to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of supplies, services and works within the EU. In most cases they require competition. The EU rules reflect and reinforce the value for money (VFM), focus of many new procurement policies. This requires that all public procurement must be based on VFM, defined as “the best mix of quality and effectiveness for the least outlay over the period of use of the goods or services bought”, which should be achieved through competition, unless there are compelling reasons to the contrary. This Directive (Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC – Text with EEA relevance) establishes rules on the procedures for procurement by contracting authorities with respect to public contracts as well as design contests, whose value is estimated to be not less than the thresholds specified.
The European Public Procurement Directive includes encouragement for BIM in the procurement of public works to support the modernisation of procurement processes, improvements to cost efficiency of public funding and to increase consideration for whole-life costing in public works. The Directive establishes the need to use software (media data and tools to model the building) in processes for contracting construction work, services and supplies. Among other effects, it is expected that there will be different levels of electronic information and that evaluation of offers in procurement should take the full asset’s lifecycles into consideration rather than focusing only on direct costs, in line with the BIM objectives.
The Directive is available in 23 languages.
The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) has launched a report called ‘Which way to go? Strategic scenarios for consulting engineers in times of high uncertainty’ aimed at business leaders making critical decisions in difficult times, such as following the Covid19 global pandemic. The EFCA’s Future Trends Committee, together with the Center for Strategy and Scenario Planning at HHL Graduate School of Management, Leipzig, explored the future and examined possible strategic developments.
A way of providing direction in times of uncertainty is to start with scenarios that show how the future might unfold in completely different ways. The report describes four scenarios for the consulting engineering industry, based on ‘critical uncertainties.
Although digital technologies have turned a lot of our processes and work behaviour upside down, they are no longer regarded as ‘uncertain’. We know we need to continue with digitalisation. What we are less aware of, or at least, less able to accept as a direct impact on our performance, is the mixture of external challenges: the daily threat of climate change, over-indebtedness and highly pressured global financial systems, an increasingly discordant European Union, even war, conflict and refugees affecting our borders. Such issues can directly, and jointly, impact consulting engineers. But how? The future is foggy, and visibility is poor. Where will the changes end? Which trends will prove to be decisive in assessing the future? What will our industry look like in five years´ time? Which key drivers will be formative for our market? How can our companies stay successful in a changing environment? These questions are not easy to answer in the increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world. This report aims to highlight some potential scenarios which may exist in the future related to these challenges.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
The publication of ISO 19650, an international quality standard governing the organisation and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, helps the client, project manager and contractor to agree on things, develop a shared understanding and exchange data more easily. Besides making the construction sector more competitive, BIM is driving innovation and sustainable growth while delivering improved infrastructure quality.
The European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) provided guidance to its members for introducing the ISO 19650 standard and highlighting its far-reaching benefits. For engineers, BIM under the ISO 19650 concepts represents unprecedented opportunities for improving their added value during the construction process.
The BIM Booklet addresses the new ISO 19650 standards and their relevance to consulting engineers. It describes the beneficial outcomes of using them within the BIM approach, and from a project management perspective. It highlights the benefits of lowering risk and reducing financial losses, which are possible where reliable project information is available in a structured, re-usable form and where it is efficiently shared. It illustrates how, by managing the ownership and liability of project data, project managers can stay in control during the whole lifecycle of assets, including operations and maintenance, experiencing less contradiction or misinterpretation of data. It supports Part 1 and Part 2 of ISO 19650, which relate to concepts and principles. EFCA believes it is important to get a better grasp on the new ways of working together and adopt a more digital approach, thereby speaking the same language. The Booklet will help all stakeholders optimise their use of the ISO 19650 standard.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
In 2018, four major European industry federations, CECE, Construction Products Europe, EBC and FIEC, organised a joint event under the framework of the “EU Industry days” to discuss a common approach towards digitalisation for the construction industry.
By working together with other organisations from the construction value chain the document ‘Smarter Construction, Stronger Economy, Inclusive Society: The European Construction Industry Manifesto for Digitalisation’, was published.
It was supported by 23 European industry organisations, representing a whole range of stakeholders within the construction value chain.
The manifesto outlines why the digitalisation of the construction sector must be one of the main priorities of the EU political agenda because:
- the European Union must take the political lead on digital construction
- an appropriate regulatory framework on data policy is necessary
- the new EU budget must focus on digital skills, R&D and deployment of IT infrastructure.
An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)
