Siemens join buildingSMART International

Siemens Headquarters, Zug
Siemens Headquarters, Zug

Siemens join openBIM organization buildingSmart International as a strategic member

Richard Petrie presents Wolfgang Hass with Siemens' membership certificate

Richard Petrie presents Wolfgang Hass with Siemens' membership certificate

In March 2018, the Siemens Building Technologies Division joined buildingSMART International (bSI) as a member of the Strategic Advisory Council and several National Chapters.

Siemens is the first building technology vendor to become part of this international not-for-profit organization created by bSI, the openBIM™ data format defines open, vendor-neutral international standards for Building Information Modeling (BIM).

These standards are essential in order to promote rapid digitalization in the built asset sector. BIM is a digitally assisted, future-proof, holistic process for planning, constructing and operating buildings and helps boost productivity in the construction industry. It affects all stakeholders involved in the building process – from building owners, architects and planners to building technology vendors, property operators and facility managers to demolition and disposal companies.

“Our membership in bSI underpins our clear commitment to BIM and incorporates our building digitalization expertise into bSI’s groundbreaking standardization efforts. This will allow us to take the next major step toward optimizing all phases in the building lifecycle,” says Matthias Rebellius, CEO of Siemens Building Technologies.

“Siemens’ decision to join buildingSMART as a Strategic Member is a very significant endorsement of the importance of our solutions and standards work, our vision and the strength of our community. Siemens’ scale and professionalism will be of huge assistance as buildingSMART gears up to address the growing work programs demanded by the uptake of openBIM and digital ways of working in the built asset sector,” says Richard Petrie, CEO at bSI.

The virtual building process has enormous benefits: The data model generated in the planning phase of a building can be used across all other phases in the building’s lifecycle. In the construction phase, it is possible to test construction plans and ideas in virtual space to assess their practical feasibility. Physical construction work does not start until the simulation has been successful. In addition, BIM makes it possible to optimize energy efficiency measures and to factor in future changes in usage right in the planning phase. This results in enormous cost savings in the subsequent operating phase, which accounts for 80 percent of a building’s lifecycle costs.

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Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for 170 years. The company is active around the globe, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of efficient power generation and power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal 2017, which ended on September 30, 2017, Siemens generated revenue of €83.0 billion and net income of €6.2 billion. At the end of September 2017, the company had around 377,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

buildingSMART International is a vendor neutral and not for profit body that leads the development of open digital information flows across the built asset economy. 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. Further information is available on the Internet at www.buildingsmart.org