Posted on January 18, 2016

The Dutch Revit Users Group (RevitGG), together with the original authors of the Dutch Revit Standards (NLRS), took the initiative to secure agreements regarding the use of Revit software for building design and make them available free of charge. Therefore, they established the Revit Standards Foundation (RSF) together with other major players in the construction industry. This foundation must guard and secure the intellectual property of the NLRS as an open standard.

The aim is that all parties that work with BIM (Building Information Modeling) uses a uniform method to design the models and can make use of the correct standard library. This will encourage that there are fewer misunderstandings between the different stakeholders in the construction process and they can easily filter the information from the model that is applicable to them.

The Revit Standard Foundation was established with the support of a large number of leading players in the construction industry. These companies all want to ensure that there is a proper open standard that provides future-proof solutions for the use of Autodesk Revit. Especially construction related companies, software vendors, user groups and consultants in technology and IT-driven business processes are connected to the foundation. The establishment of the Foundation is welcomed by industry associations as BIM Loket, BIR (Building Information Council) and UNETO-VNI (employers’ organization for the installation sector).

Mark Wieringa, president of RSF and one of the original authors of the NLRS: “We have written the standard and want to transfer our user rights to everyone by means of this foundation. That way we act in the spirit of this open standard: availability for everyone. With the establishment of the foundation we can maintain an open structure, monitor, develop, maintain and guarantee its openness. Wieringa further indicates they want to further develop the open standard internationally. We now joined many initiatives abroad and first collaborations are a fact.”

Gert-Jan Ditsel, BIM manager at Dura Vermeer and vice-president of RSF adds: “An open standard and project template that are free to use, is not only important, it is a must. When they would not be free, then you have to deal with (sometimes costly) licenses. Because it’s free, you can also recommend or even specify its use to everyone working on an architectural, structural or installation engineering model. By sticking to the standard’s structure and the way it is organized, you give structure to BIM users and their processes. “

Background information

Open standards

By implying the rules as prescribed within the Revit Standards, there is uniformity in the use of open standards IFC, ETIM-RT, CB-NL, GB CAS and NI SfB between all parties dealing with the construction process. Their output looks the same, and their application as well. As a result, the different parties do not need to make individual agreements with each other about the use of the above-mentioned open standards.

The Revit Standards consist of a set of rules for creating a virtual building information model (BIM) within the software Autodesk Revit. These rules include: naming conventions, object styles, parameters, mappings, general modeling rules and the implementation of open standards. The Revit Standards also provide a Revit vendor-neutral data exchange based on open standards.

Parties involved

The companies that enabled the creation of the Revit Standard Foundation and participate either as stakeholder, sponsor or donator.