Document downloads - Building information modelling (BIM)
Available downloads
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Measured surveys of land, buildings and utilities
Published November 2014
Effective from 8 December 2014
Reissued April 2024
This professional standard is designed for use by land, engineering and measured building surveyors who are acting in an advisory capacity and by survey knowledgeable clients who specify their own surveys.
This third edition supersedes the second edition. One of the primary changes from the second edition is the use of survey accuracy band, which takes into consideration client requirements for scale independent metadata and digital data handling environments.
This professional standard covers:
- project information
- survey accuracy, control, coordinate grid and datum
- topographic surveys
- measured building surveys
- underground utility surveys
- monitoring and deformation and
- deliverables. -
Geospatial information and the surveying profession (ARCHIVED)
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
Geographic or geospatial information (GI) has become part of everyday life and is a growing worldwide phenomenon. No longer is GI the preserve of highly skilled professionals; instead many people in society use it on a daily basis, sometimes unknowingly. In-car navigation systems and instant access to satellite imagery through the Internet are just two of the enormous changes that have taken place over the past few years. The proliferation of websites that use maps, images and addresses is a clear indication that GI has become part of the norm for many people. Although many of the examples in this information paper are taken from the UK, the acceleration of GI is a relevant worldwide. -
Overview of a 5D BIM project (ARCHIVED)
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
Through consultation with RICS, Henry Riley LLP was invited to write an information paper based on its experience of 5D BIM throughout 2012 and 2013, with particular focus on a project in which an RICS NRM 1 pricing document based on quantification from a BIM model was issued for tender.
This 1st edition information paper includes: project details, key problems identified, process and solution pre-tender, post-tender review and lessons learnt. -
International BIM implementation guide
Published September 2014
Effective from 1 March 2015
This guidance note highlights international high-level principles around how to implement and use BIM in the design, construction and operation of our built environment, including facets of procurement management and asset management. It is intended that these principles are used as an overarching framework for potential national standards or regional guidelines on BIM, and also by individuals and organisations. Therefore, this guidance note is designed for any firm or professional using BIM or considering using BIM in the foreseeable future. -
BIM for beginners
The built environment sector is full of debate about BIM. In these times it is crucial to be clear on the current and future state of BIM.
This document is based on key points from the RICS guidance note 'International BIM implementation guide'. It gives a brief introduction to BIM for those who have yet to work with it. It looks at:
- what BIM is
- the technology behind BIM
- how BIM is used in project delivery and
- the implications of BIM on organisations. -
BIM for cost managers: requirements from the BIM model
Published: August 2015
Effective from: August 2015
This global guidance note should be used as a source of reference for quantity surveyors or cost managers when BIM has been implemented in the life cycle of a project. It offers an awareness of BIM and provides readers with recommendations for good practice when producing measurement outputs.
This guidance note covers:
- working in a BIM environment
- background information on naming structures conventions/data drops
- internal practice procedures and
- BIM measurement.
This guidance note is effective from publication in August 2015. -
Utilization of BIM in construction cost and project management practices (RICS)
Published June 2015
The report analyses the factors shaping the development of BIM in the North American, Chinese and UK construction industries and provides insight in how to navigate these. -
BIM and the value dimension (RICS)
Published June 2015
The central question this research report addresses is how BIM can support the activities and professional services delivered by property professionals.
RICS research content is available to everyone, free of charge on the RICS website. Non-members will need to register. RICS members and registered non-members will need to login to see the particular research items. See also the full list of RICS research held on rics.org -
How Can Building Information Modelling (BIM) Support The New Rules of Measurement (NRM1) (RICS)
Published January 2014
The research piece investigates the required information from a BIM model to support the RICS New Rule of Measurement order of cost estimating and elemental cost planning, (NRM1).
The report reviews the four most well-known tools in the UK market, namely, Solibri model checker, Autodesk QTO, CostX and Causeway BIM measure, based on a set of criteria which is relevant to the NRM1 cost estimating and cost planning exercise.
RICS research content is available to everyone, free of charge on the RICS website. Non-members will need to register. RICS members and registered non-members will need to login to see the particular research items. See also the full list of RICS research held on rics.org -
BIM for building surveyors (ARCHIVED)
Published August 2016
Effective from 1 November 2016
Archived June 2018
This document has been archived and is available on isurv for information purposes only.
Provides an accessible introduction to level 2 BIM, highlighting the important implications and considerations for building surveyors.
This guidance is written in the context of the government mandate for the adoption of level 2 BIM that came into force on 4 April 2016 and addresses:
- industry drivers for level 2 BIM
- level 2 BIM in an organisation context
- level 2 BIM for project delivery. -
Value management and value engineering
Published January 2017
Effective from 1 May 2017
Reissued September 2024
This 1st edition practice information introduces the concepts of value management and value engineering as they relate to construction projects and to the role of chartered surveyors, who have a key role to play in helping manage value across the project.
Value management and value engineering are both concerned with increasing the ratio between benefit (outputs) and the cost or effort (inputs) required, but are often separated in terms of their timing and their scale. But value is also a relative concept, and one of the roles of project management, supply chain procurement and overall procurement is to manage these imbalances so that the project as a whole provides value to the client.
This is part of RICS' Black Book, which is a collection of technical practice documents that covers all processes throughout the construction project life cycle. The documents are essential development tools for junior professionals working through their APC and useful guides to best practice for more experienced professionals.
A project is currently underway to review and update the Black Book content with the aim of producing a comprehensive new edition. Expected to publish in 2025, the new Black Book will comprise an overarching global professional standard, accompanied by practical guidance material.
This document was reissued in September 2024 as practice information. It had previously been published in January 2017 as a guidance note. No material changes have been made to the document. -
Building Information Modelling to support healthcare built asset management
Published July 2018
Each year, England’s NHS spends billions of pounds to maintain its estates. This research investigates how Building Information Modelling (BIM) can provide benefit by demonstrating the links between built asset maintenance spend and added value to the organisational performance. The research uses a comprehensive literature review and a case study of an NHS hospital to achieve the research aim. -
BIM Execution Framework for early-stage estimating in PPP projects
The use of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) as the vehicle to procure large-scale social and physical infrastructure projects is becoming increasingly deployed around the globe.
This international study evaluates the use of PPP procurement in the UK, Australia and China as three of the most mature and rapidly developing users of the PPP procurement route.
It focuses on the ways of improving digitalisation in PPP procurement with the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its impact on early-stage estimating. This research aims at developing an execution framework for BIM-enabled early-stage estimating for PPP procured projects, learning from the situations in these three most advanced user countries.
The expectation is that such a framework will also help the rapidly developing countries, who are increasingly reliant of PPP types of procurement. -
The future of BIM: digital transformation in the UK construction and infrastructure sector
Published July 2020
Reissued April 2023
The industry is now on the verge of the fourth industrial revolution: digitalisation is having a profound impact on the work itself, the way the industry works together, and it will drastically affect surveyors’ abilities to progress innovation and create better places and spaces for future generations. Building information modelling (BIM) and the accompanying use of a common data environment (CDE) form the bedrock of this transformation.
As clients increasingly look to technology for solutions that create efficiencies, RICS professionals need to gain a better-informed understanding of the potential of BIM, how it is evolving, and vitally, how they can take advantage of its development to stay ahead of the curve.
Within this practice information, we look at how BIM has evolved and merged into a much broader paradigm in the UK, and how this might set an example for other markets. As the UK transitioned from national to ISO standards, the focus has shifted from considering adoption and implementation of BIM as the end goal to using BIM and CDE as a catalyst to promote a holistic shift towards a model-driven approach to the design, delivery and operation of constructed assets.
The practice information provides answers about the evolving ‘what’ and ‘why’ of BIM and its potential for surveyors, including:
- the background to BIM
- the need to innovate
- why the development of the definition of BIM needs to be explored and
- the need for surveyors to examine the digital technologies available, and a plan of action for implementing them.
This document was reissued in April 2023 as practice information. It had previously been published in July 2020 as an insight paper. No material changes have been made to the document.