Whose standard is it anyway?

Space Group CEO Rob Charlton discusses accreditation, certification and standards

Accreditation, certification, standards...

Over the last few weeks I seem to have come across a number of articles where the author has been telling us about the importance of accreditation, certification or simply how their standard is the only standard to use. It seems that the construction establishment are all vying to be the accepted standard for BIM, whether this is for object production or for information management. This type of thinking takes me back to the days when I used a drawing board and Rotring pen. It is Baby Boom thinking based on fear and control.

The truth is that nobody owns these standards. They have been, and are being, developed by the industry. The industry should own them and develop them. We have been fortunate enough that the previous government got us started and funded the BIM Task Group which produced some excellent documentation, which is used as a framework.

When the industry is allowed to develop things themselves, the results can be quite impressive. The effort put in by the BIM 4 Manufacturers & Manufacturing group (BIM4M2) is an excellent example of what can be achieved and the Product Data Templates are proof of what can be achieved by working together. The current land grab for who owns certification, accreditation and standards is not healthy. The reality is nobody should own them - is there another industry where private companies own the standards?

Many decision makers in construction today are Baby Boomers or Generation X. They come from an era where professional bodies were dominant and a certified badge was all-important. This was a very one-dimensional world which moved at a very slow pace. We are now in the Information Age and things are moving quickly. We need frameworks and guides, not certification and accreditation. The push for accreditation and certification is scaring and confusing the Baby Boom leaders of organisations. This fear is dangerous as it is causing paralysis and stops progress.

At bimstore we launched our ‘standard’ back in 2011. We called it the ‘bimstore bible’....not a standard. This is now on update 13. It has evolved as the needs of industry have evolved. We have taken feedback from both specifiers and manufacturers and we know that the document is used as a basis for content production around the world. We use the British Standards as a framework but develop them to be right for industry.

Nobody owns the standard but we all have a responsibility to develop them and to ensure we continue to lead the world in digital construction. Rather than using words such as accreditation and certification I would much rather we used words such as collaboration and innovation.

No more accreditation or certification - can we accept that no individual organisation owns a BIM standard!