The BIM Gateway

The BIM Gateway Project

The BIM Gateway project was a one year collaborative project between the RIBA Technical Research Department and the University of the Arts London.The project was co-funded by the government-backed Technology Strategy Board “Metadata Production Tools (Fast Track)” funding stream.

The aim of the BIM Gateway project was to investigate and develop a reusable, open version of the Uniclass Construction Classification standard and the Common Arrangment of Works Sections (CAWS) using Semantic Web and linked open data standards.

Project Background

In September 2009 Paul Morrell, The Government’s Chief Construction Advisor, presented a short paper to the Government Construction Clients board outlining a BIS-led Industry working group that would deliver a comprehensive report on the potential future use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), and its impact to the future of the construction industry.

The final report delivered in March 2011 on Building Information Modelling and Management suggested a roadmap and strategy to enable the progressive use of BIM on Government building programmes as well as providing a framework for procurement and delivery standards.

A full version of this report is available online at the BIS website.

In this roadmap Uniclass and the Common Arrangement of Works Section were seen as progressing into a “new classification to assist lifecycle delivery”.

The BIM Gateway project aimed to take Uniclass and CAWS and do just that, by creating “Open Uniclass”: a reusable,open, interroperable data resource.

Project Outcomes

The BIM Gateway project resulted in the development of a Linked Data version of Uniclass and Uniclass2 systems. The semantic technologies developed during the BIM Gateway project have been used as lessons learned to improve the ongoing digital development of Uniclass2.

Image reproduced from the Building Information Modelling (BIM) Working Party Strategy Paper

Project Team

Project Team (Clockwise from L-R): Geoffrey Makstutis, Anne Dye, Alisdair Aldous, Tricia Lawton, Jon Tenner and Alex Tait (not pictured: Monica Hundal, Stuart Chalmers).