The Hong Kong Development Bureau has issued Technical Circular (Works) No. 7/2017 that makes building information modelling (BIM) delivery mandatory for all public capital works projects from 1 January 2018 with the aim of “enhancing design, construction, project management, asset management and improving the overall productivity of the construction industry.” Technical Circular (Works) No. 7/2017 identifies 20 specific uses of BIM. From 1 January 2018, eight of these uses became mandated for the design or construction stage, with others expected to be mandated in the future. This document, ‘A step change for BIM in Hong Kong’ published by engineering consultants Mott MacDonald runs through an explanation of the many BIM uses which are optional and mandatory within Hong Kong. These BIM uses apply and are presented from the perspective of Design and Construction.

An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) of Hong Kong was set up with the main function of forging consensus on long-term strategic issues, conveying the industryÂ’s needs and aspirations to Government, as well as providing a communication channel for Government to solicit advice on all construction-related matters. The CIC developed itself as a Centre of Excellence for BIM, formulating strategies for market transformation and promoting cross-discipline collaboration and wider adoption of BIM. The CIC provides support to the industry in five aspects, promotion on BIM adoption, training, standards, guidelines and specifications, BIM personnel certification and BIM courses accreditation, and BIM-related researches using the CIC Research Fund. With the support of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and other stakeholders of the local construction industry, BIM adoption in Hong Kong has grown in size, span and depth in recent years. The growing project BIM information flow requires suitable application software and hardware, BIM standards and in particular personnel with suitable BIM skills to manage and coordinate the projects. To address the expectation of the industry, the CIC has prepared samples of job duties, qualifications and experience requirements for recruitment of BIM Managers, BIM Coordinators and BIM Modellers. The prospective employers are free to adjust the reference material to suit the size, nature and complexity of their projects and the requirement of individual posts.

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) of Hong Kong was set up with the main function of forging consensus on long-term strategic issues, conveying the industryÂ’s needs and aspirations to Government, as well as providing a communication channel for Government to solicit advice on all construction-related matters. The CIC developed itself as a Centre of Excellence for BIM, formulating strategies for market transformation and promoting cross-discipline collaboration and wider adoption of BIM. The CIC provides support to the industry in five aspects, promotion on BIM adoption, training, standards, guidelines and specifications, BIM personnel certification and BIM courses accreditation, and BIM-related researches using the CIC Research Fund. Global Switch Hong Kong is a design and built Data Centre project at TKO. This is a real project example and case study of BIM for Design, Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA). Global Switch Hong Kong is a project with a scope that includes substructure, superstructure, electrical and mechanical, façade, fit-out and maintenance works. It is currently the largest data centre in Hong Kong. As the main contractor, the company Gammon is responsible for all works, which are being delivered with the support of in-house expertise. The project makes full use of BIM for coordination and manufacturing, as well as handover throughout the different stages of the project’s life cycle.

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) of Hong Kong was set up with the main function of forging consensus on long-term strategic issues, conveying the industry’s needs and aspirations to Government, as well as providing a communication channel for Government to solicit advice on all construction-related matters. The CIC developed itself as a Centre of Excellence for BIM, formulating strategies for market transformation and promoting cross-discipline collaboration and wider adoption of BIM. The CIC provides support to the industry in five aspects, promotion on BIM adoption, training, standards, guidelines and specifications, BIM personnel certification and BIM courses accreditation, and BIM-related researches using the CIC Research Fund. The CIC Construction Digitalisation Dashboard is to include the most up-to-date and important information for stakeholders to keep abreast of the progress and status of construction digitalisation in Hong Kong. This is an online dashboard showing lots of statistics and information about the current adoption of BIM in Hong Kong. All of the data shown has been extracted from the CIC “Survey on Adoption of Digitalisation in Construction Projects”. In the survey, a project with adoption of digitalisation is defined as“ a project which had adopted or was planned to adopt at least one of the advanced construction-related digital tools”.

This is the website for the non-profit association – BIM Croatia. This organisation contributes to the initiation and development of the application of BIM in Croatia by setting standards through various professions, jobs and software, and also advise, educate encourage and inform about the application of BIM in the right way. The website has a wealth of resources, including a link to a Handbook for the introduction of BIM by the European public sector, etc., guidelines, and a vast array of BIM-related articles, with a historical archive. There are also links to BIM-related events and courses. The Guidelines for BIM approach in infrastructure projects is issued by the Croatian Chamber of Civil Engineers, and looks at the full application of BIM in infrastructure projects.

An archive version of this information article has been created if the original is no longer accessible (Archive information from January 2024)

This free platform is aimed at all project owners, regardless of their structure, their level of BIM maturity  or the type of their operations. It was produced by industry partners on behalf of the BIM Plan 2022 and the Housing, Urban Planning and Landscape Department (DHUP).

Through the support offered on ORELIE, project owners can integrate all of the theoretical notions related to BIM specifications. Support is structured on the basis of the framework of a standard BIM Specification, which has previously been defined as part of action 1 of the BIM Plan 2022: Making the BIM order reliable.

Thanks to videos, documents and interactive presentations, each user can therefore complete their BIM specifications, part by part, writing and updating their document in complete autonomy.

The platform aims to complete BIM repositories and pre-existing guides by offering an interactive tool, promoting user engagement and offering a space for reflection.

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Norwegian State Railways (Bane NOR) is a state-owned enterprise responsible for the national railway infrastructure, subject to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Its purpose is to provide accessible rail infrastructure and efficient and user-friendly services, including hub and freight terminal development.

Bane NOR is responsible for planning, development, management, operation and maintenance of the national railway network, traffic management and management and development of railway property. It has the operational coordination responsibility for safety work and operational responsibility for crisis management. It is initiating an improvement programme to standardise deliveries and information flow of development projects upon handover to the operating organisation.

The purpose of this requirement document is to specify what information will be produced and provided in connection with the deliverables in a recent major road/rail project (FRE16). It was a prerequisite that information created as part of this project should in a later phase be able to be managed and operated by Bane NOR and the road organisations operational applications. The information should be delivered in order to set a standard that the industry can work to on future projects. In addition, the contractor is responsible for providing the necessary documentation together with the deliverables, and in accordance with the Contract.

The requirement document covers the following specifications:

• Definitions
• Requirements for model structures
• Requirements for information content on objects in models, related to the work and delivery.

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The Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens vegvesen – SVV) is a government agency responsible for national and county public roads in Norway. This includes planning, construction and operation of the national and county road networks, driver training and licensing, vehicle inspection, and subsidies to car ferries. The agency is led by the Directorate of Public Roads (Vegdirektoratet), and is subordinate to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It is divided into five regions and 30 districts, which are subordinate to the directorate.

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration decided to revise and merge the manuals V770 Model basis and R700 Drawing Basis into a new guideline. It will be mandatory to follow the methods described in the new guideline. This means that 3D modelling based on quality-assured basic data becomes the norm in all road projects. The agency shall also focus on standardising information in the models, and courses and training materials will be developed for these methods.

Handbook V770 is a guidance document specifying the requirements for basic data and models. It sets requirements for how basic data and models are to be ordered, prepared and delivered in road projects. This handbook should contribute to:

• Clear quality requirements for basic data
• 3D engineering in all subjects
• Standardised description of objects
• Standardised description of models
• Use of open, standardised formats
• Use of models as a working basis in the construction phase
• Standardisation of final documentation from project phases.

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Transport for New South Wales (NSW) leads the development of safe, integrated and efficient transport systems for the people of NSW. The citizens are the focus of everything that it does, including transport planning, strategy, policy, procurement and other non-service delivery functions across all modes of transport – roads, rail, ferries, light rail and point to point. Transport for NSW is committed to implementing best practice data and information management. BIM and Digital Engineering have been recognised by Transport for NSW as a key enabler to achieving this policy. By structuring data consistently, it can be readily used by all NSW stakeholders to make informed management decisions throughout a project’s lifecycle.

Transport for NSW is using its Digital Engineering Framework to connect emerging technologies with reliable structured data, while recognising that people and culture are key to success. The Framework is being developed to provide a consistent, holistic approach to Digital Engineering across the Transport’s cluster. This will enable a step change in productivity and provide long-term benefits to the industry.

The Framework focuses on five key areas to ensure a consistent approach to Digital Engineering, allowing projects to adopt this way of working simply and rapidly. These key areas are:

• Digital Twin – the set of deliverables (models, documents and data) that represent the ‘digital asset’.
• Procurement – a standard way of defining digital requirements for procurement.
• Ways of Working – how Digital Engineering is implemented and used.
• Technologies – the applications and tools that support new ways of working.
• Skills and Resourcing – the resources and training to enhance skills so that Digital Engineering can be used effectively. 

The Framework provides the capability for Transport for NSW’s projects to enhance existing skills, process, technology and data standards.

View the Framework

Valencian Government Railways (Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana – FGV) has published a BIM Manual, in which all the instructions and standards are collected to guide its technical staff and of collaborating companies, in the homogeneous and standardised application of this methodology.

The BIM manual is structured in two volumes, together with  additional documentation and appendices. The first volume covers the methodological and strategic aspects that have been adopted to undertake an effective implementation. The second volume offers a precise guide to develop, at a practical level, all the methodology applied in the different contracts for the design, construction and maintenance of railway infrastructures.

Created from real experiences and projects, the manual will assist the public sector to create a rich and orderly source of reference around the promotion of the use of this methodology.

Read the manual