4. Outlook and developments

For the many players in the construction industry, BIM represents a challenge for the future in terms of multi-scale, multi-trade software integration. Software chaining requires data standardization, not only within BIM, but also for all necessary input data and, in particular, construction product databases. This is the first technological hurdle to overcome, paving the way for interoperability, which is not yet a reality.

And yet, from interoperability to integrated design through the automatic exchange of multi-trade data, right through to optimized design methods, software solutions are available on the market and developing. Although the entire standardized BIM production chain is not yet complete, tools are emerging in parallel for :

• BIM data management and exchange;

• integrated...