buildingSMART International (bSI) and the International Construction Information Society (I.C.I.S.) Sign MoU to Develop New Working Items

London, U.K. - March 27, 2023 - London, - buildingSMART International (bSI) and the International Construction Information Society (I.C.I.S.) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work collaboratively in starting projects around the topic of “specification” in building and construction within the buildingSMART community.

This agreement aims to advance global standardization and collaboration on building and construction information. In general, the proposal for activity consists of work packages in the following categories:

  • Joint preparation of a white paper on ‘how must specifications increase the value of the modelling process (SPEC to BIM)’:
    • Specification about what you want to have (function, performance and solutions)
    • 3D models about what you get (geometry and properties of parts)
    • Minimum information required in a model to meet the specification
  • Joint preparation of a white paper on ‘how to check/test a model and its properties against the specification (what you get is what you specified)’
  • Joint preparation of a white paper/concept on ‘information life-cycle management’ as a concept in the building and construction process representing all stakeholders, processes, use cases and considering an overall ownership
  • Open up the I.C.I.S. global experts’ network to increase involvement of manufacturers
  • Joint commitment to explore opportunities to develop joint standards that will benefit the industry

Clive Billiald, Chief Executive, buildingSMART International, said, “I am delighted to formalise this relationship between two organisations dedicated to helping society realise the economic and environmental benefits of digitisation in the built environment. Our work together will help the construction industry to better design, deliver and maintain buildings and infrastructure, using open, standardised digital workflows to make information Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable by all.”

According to Michel Bohren, President of I.CI.S., "the collaboration of the local specification and standardisation leaders organised in I.C.I.S. with the organisation focused on supporting digital transformation with openBIM has the potential to contribute some missing links".

About buildingSMART International

buildingSMART International is a vendor-neutral and not for profit body that leads the development of open digital information flows across the built asset industry. Its mission is to proactively support industry participants who want to develop open standards for planning, design, procurement, assembly and operation of buildings and infrastructure worldwide. It provides the international network plus the necessary technical and process support. Its members, who range from across the built environment spectrum, collaborate under the buildingSMART organization. buildingSMART is engaged with other international standards bodies such as ISO, the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). Its core Industry Foundation Class (IFC) standards achieved ISO approval in 2012.

About I.C.I.S.

The International Construction Information Society (I.C.I.S.) is an association of organisations that provides national master specification systems, cost information systems, and/or building product information for the construction industry.

I.C.I.S. members are neutral in status (i.e. not political), technically authoritative, and solidly rooted in the construction industry. Currently, I.C.I.S. includes representatives from 13 countries and five continents.

We believe that using and maintaining high-quality knowledge and information improves both our national and the global construction industries.

We are a society of like-minded organisations that share our thoughts and ideas, and promote best practices in our home nations and around the world.

Networking is important to us, and we organise an annual conference where current issues and technologies can be discussed and debated.

We create projects that use the collective skills and experience of our members to produce technical reports and solutions about topical issues. These are available to all members, with some available to the general public. You can find out more here: https://www.icis.org/

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