Chicago – Plumbing engineering and design professionals are increasingly using building information modeling (BIM) in their work. To ensure the National BIM Standard–United States™ (NBIMS–US™) accurately references their needs, the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) recently signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the National Institute of Building Sciences buildingSMART alliance™.
“ASPE is thrilled to be offered the opportunity to join the other organizations involved in the buildingSMART alliance in helping to improve the already impressive and valuable National BIM Standard–US™,” says Jim Kendzel, MPH, CAE, Executive Director/CEO of ASPE. “Our members are directly engaged in the use of building information modeling, and we are committed to contributing to the standards process and ensuring that the national standard meets the needs of plumbing engineers and designers.”
The buildingSMART alliance works with numerous organizations in the building industry to ensure that all stakeholders are represented in the BIM process.
“The very essence of the buildingSMART alliance is the relationships we build with other organizations throughout the facilities industry,” says buildingSMART alliance Executive Director Dana K. “Deke” Smith, FAIA. “This is the first time the entire industry has attempted such a broad collaborative effort. We welcome ASPE into the Alliance and look forward to working with them to incorporate plumbing references into the NBIMS–US™ and effect true and valuable change for all practitioners in the facilities industry.”
A building information model is a shared resource of knowledge about a facility that can be used to make decisions about the building throughout its lifecycle, from the initial idea, to design and construction, through daily operations, and to eventual demolition. Because BIM covers all aspects of the building process, everyone in the construction industry will be impacted as its use becomes standard operating procedure. Therefore, it is important that representatives from every segment of the industry participate in the development of the standard, including members of the American Society of Plumbing Engineers.
“Developing the National BIM Standard–United States™ is a monumental effort that will change the way our industry operates,” said NBIMS–US™ Project Committee Chair Chris Moor, who is the Director of Industry Initiatives at the American Institute of Steel Construction. “Volunteers have the opportunity to use their expertise to ensure that NBIMS-US™ addresses their specific areas of focus, which means they can have an impact on the acceptance and usability of BIM within the lifecycle of a building. Their involvement is crucial to our momentum.”
In the MOA, ASPE agreed to work with the Alliance to develop and implement open BIM standards. The Society plans to establish a BIM committee that will work on developing ballots related specifically to their plumbing engineering and design expertise for submission to the NBIMS–US™ standards development process.
To find out how to participate in ASPE’s newly established BIM Committee, contact Jim Kendzel at jkendzel@aspe.org. To learn more about NBIMS-US™, visit buildingsmartalliance.org/index.php/nbims. To see a complete list of buildingSMART alliance MOA holders, visit buildingsmartalliance.org/index.php/about/board.
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