The Texas Facilities Commission (TFC) announced this week that it is adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) for state design and construction projects. The announcement speaks about the advantages of BIM for the various members of the project team, including the architect, engineer, contractor, and owner. I applaud the TFC for desiring to move into the new era of using BIM and desiring to take advantage of the capabilities of BIM.
The article stated that the Facilities Design and Construction (FDC) division “has adopted and encourages the use of BIM’s digital design technology“. This appears to mean that BIM is not actually required for state projects, but is optional. That may also be the reason that the article does not specify whether they want every project to utilize BIM, as some types of projects are not conducive to utilizing BIM.
The announcement also states “To that end, the FDC division has developed a clear set of standards and guidelines that all private sector partners will have access to prior to any involvement in a state project. Along with the guidelines, FDC has created an interoperable BIM template that all private sector partners will have made available to them for any State project.” I could not find any information on how to access or view those standards and guidelines, and I did not receive any response to my inquiries for information on the guidelines. It may be that this information will be provided to the “private sector partners” when each project is awarded.
It is hard to tell at this point how much this will affect design and construction for state projects in Texas. More information will need to be provided on the BIM standards to determine the full impact of this announcement.
To see the announcement, go to:
http://www.tfc.state.tx.us/newsevents/texas-adopts-building-information-modeling-bim-capability.
Effective July 1st, 2009 the Wisconsin Department of Administration Division of State Facilities started requiring that Building Information Modeling (BIM) be used on larger state projects. More information on BIM requirements in Wisconsin can be found at the following site:
http://www.doa.state.wi.us/dsf/masterspec_view_new.asp?catid=61&locid=4
Applying Technology to Architecture 