Welcome to the August edition of the buildingSMART International newsletter! 

We're delighted to bring you the latest news, updates, and opportunities from across the global community.  

This month, features several key updates as we prepare for the upcoming buildingSMART International Summit, taking place from 22–24 September 2025 in Berlin.

We unveil the 2025 openBIM Awards finalists, who will showcase their projects in Berlin on September 23, with winners announced the following day.

We’re pleased to announce that the Philippines has been formally approved as a Chapter-in-formation.

Read our latest blog post developed in collaboration with Siemens AG, titled “Driving Interoperability in Electrical Planning: Standardized openBIM Use Cases from Siemens AG.” We also highlight the recently published ACCORD guide, which provides valuable insights on “How to Automate Building Permitting with BIM.”

Register for the upcoming Regulatory Domain Open House, which will feature discussions on the scope of zoning and technical regulations.

Register for the buildingSMART International Summit in Berlin

Register now and join us from Monday 22nd to Wednesday 24th September as we explore the theme “openBIM - Better Together”. 

Sponsorship opportunities for the Summit are still available, providing excellent visibility within the international openBIM community. 

openBIM Awards 2025 Finalists Announced

buildingSMART International is pleased to announce the full list of finalists for the 2025 buildingSMART openBIM Awards. These finalists will present their projects to an international jury as part of the program’s final round. Presentations will take place on Tuesday, 23 September, during the buildingSMART International Summit in Berlin, with the winners revealed the following day.

Philippines joins buildingSMART International
as a Chapter-In-Formation

buildingSMART International is delighted to announce that buildingSMART Phillippines is now a Chapter-in-Formation, and becomes the 38th Chapter at buildingSMART. You can read the full press release below. 

New Blog Alert:
Driving Interoperability in Electrical Planning:
Standardized openBIM Use Cases from Siemens AG

As part of a joint initiative to promote open standards in digital electrical planning, Siemens working in collaboration with buildingSMART International have published two standardized openBIM use cases. These use cases are now accessible through the buildingSMART Use Case Management (UCM) service, supporting greater interoperability and more efficient planning workflows in the building industry.

ACCORD Project:
Guide on “How to automate building permitting with BIM”

This ACCORD e-learning starter pack offers a practical approach to support stakeholders across various regions in implementing digital permit checking with BIM within their organizations and available in several languages.

The guide includes an introduction to BIM, openBIM and its benefits, explanation of openBIM workflow – How to define, communicate and validate your requirements, key elements to check, methods for effective checking, a hands-on, step-by-step guide to implementing Digital Permit Checking and examples and best practices.

New Open House Webinar:
What do we regulate? Why? How?

Join the Regulatory Domain for a discussion on the scope of zoning and technical regulations. These rules play a vital role in ensuring that openBIM can address the regulatory challenge, and this webinar will explore what we regulate through planning and building codes, the reasoning behind these regulations, and how regulatory frameworks are implemented and evolve over time. 

Whether you're involved in planning, policy, architecture, or development, this session will offer valuable insights into the systems that shape our built environment.

Date & Time: Wednesday 27th August, 2025 @ 12:30 PM UTC +1

Become a Member of bSI!

Membership of bSI is a great way to get active in buildingSMART. A wide range of benefits includes active participation in Domains, webinars, voting, and much more!

Interested in helping to develop open solutions and standards for the built asset industry? 

Thanks to our Strategic Members

Standards Committee Consultation Website 

A number of community proposals are out for vote and can be accessed via the 'Standards Committee Consultation' page, which takes information directly from the projects. Follow the link below to learn more. 

There is a variety of votes currently out there in the community with access done via the open and live website that takes information directly from the projects. You can learn more by clicking the link below.

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