Update on ISO 19650 as a SANS in June 2023

By Rudd van Deventer

BIM and ISO 19650 adoption in South Africa

BIM is a critical technology to all professionals in the AEC Community. The adoption of ISO 19650 by South Africa will provide certainty, processes, and a foundation to enable professionals using this technology in their projects, allowing them to share information while protecting themselves in the execution of their projects.

The process of getting ISO 19650 accepted as a SANS (South African National Standard) has been moving forward for some time now, we again have a report on progress. For those of us who read this piece but do not have the background to what it is all about.

The adoption of ISO 19650 must go through a process under the control of the SABS. It needs to be adopted by a Technical Committee who will manage the process from ISO to a SANS. In the case of ISO 19650 the Technical Committee that should have taken up the issue, Technical Committee 59, responsible for Construction Standards was very busy and "had no interest in adopting either of these two standards". Because of the implications to the South African Construction Industry, it was decided that an alternative part would be taken. With TC59's agreement Technical Committee 267 took up the project and have been working on the adoption as a SANS. TC 267 are responsible for Facilities Management.

ISO 19650 constituent parts

ISO 19650-1 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling — Part 1: Concepts and principles.

ISO 19650-2 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling — Part 2: Delivery phase of the assets.

ISO 19650-3 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling — Part 3: Operational phase of the assets to give them their full title.

Current progress

SANS 19650-1 was approved without changes on the 16th of September 2022.

ISO 19650-2 was published as a SANS on the 5th of June 2023. It appears that there were no changes from the international version.

For the industry, ISO 19650 Part 2 is the most important section as it includes the National Annex that describes how South Africa will implement the International Standard. The annex transitions terminology and processes from the international standard to local conditions and practices. The National Annex will require a lot of work as it is likely to be controversial and has far reaching impact on contracts and how they are managed. This has been a point of contention in the UK and other countries as it depends on how the terminology is interpreted in Law, by Lawyers who are not trained in construction.

ISO 19650 Part 3 is due to be approved shortly. Public comment closed on the 25 May 2023.

Call for action!

Interest is building in the adoption of ISO 19650 as a SANS. The preparation of the National Annex will be a giant task and will require a lot of input. Interest has been shown by the CIDB in pulling together parties to formulate a position on the National Standard and Annex.

The BIMcommUNITY.Africa has been running a series of BIM CoDE•SA events to promote the adoption of BIM and use in the industry. The next event is the BIM CoDE•SA Workshop - Part 2 on the 13th of July 2023.

BIM isn’t adopted or implemented in a vacuum. While we work to get a BIM Mandate passed and ISO19650 accepted as a national standard, we also need to prepare the environment. Training, certification, education, support, case studies, best practice etc.

And it won’t happen on its own either. It will require the input of every party in the BIM value chain. The 2nd part of the BIM CoDE•SA Workshop, taking place on 13 July at the University of Pretoria, is doing exactly that.

Join us, make sure that you are a part of the discussion, help us build a resilient and effective BIM ecosystem. Register now