On March 8 and 9, 2018, Barcelona hosted the European BIM Summit, an annual international congress on Building Information Modeling (BIM). The event focused on promoting best practices in BIM use, sharing methodologies, and fostering international alignment.
During the summit, Ana Rojo, Director General of Production and Engineering at Ineco, announced that public building construction projects in Spain must use BIM methodology by the end of 2018. Ineco is part of the European Public Administration Group and has been commissioned to draft the Manual of Common Practices for BIM implementation. Along with the es.BIM commission, the organization is responsible for implementing this methodology across all processes carried out by Spain's Ministry of Development.
This announcement coincides with the entry into force of Spain's new Public Sector Contracts Law, which allows contracting authorities to require that projects submitted to public tenders use BIM or similar methodologies.
This is reflected in point 6 of the fifteenth additional provision:
The transition toward BIM methodology has already begun. In this regard, the European Parliament, through Directive 2014/24/EU, has made efforts to recommend its use across all European Union member states and its inclusion in public procurement and tendering regulations.
During a meeting on October 10, 2017, Spain's Minister of Development, Íñigo de la Serna, stated that “it is time for Spain to lead the implementation of this tool and begin to leverage the benefits and opportunities that this technology offers.” He added that “this is one of the most innovative initiatives in the construction sector, and one that will have the greatest impact on the future of engineering and architecture.”
BIM provides a comprehensive, holistic view of the life cycle of an infrastructure project or building, from its initial design phases to its subsequent maintenance and sustainability. Among its many advantages for the architecture sector are improved productivity, reduced costs, increased transparency in project management across both public and private sectors, and a commitment to higher project quality.
To learn more about European Directive 2014/24/EU, visit this link. For more information on the BIM implementation process in Spain, visit the BIM Commission website created by the Ministry of Development.
This article was written by Javier García Librero. The translation is powered by AI.
