Architect receives international accreditation for BIM

Award-winning architecture practice CPMG Architects has continued its commitment to being at the cutting edge of industry standards by successfully upgrading to the latest ISO accreditation for BIM.

The consultancy – which had previously held certification to the British Standards Institute (BSI) PAS 1192 standard since 2016 – has been awarded with ISO19650, which is regarded as the international standard for managing information over the whole life cycle of a built asset using BIM.

With many government-procured contacts now mandating the use of ISO19650 for suppliers, the accreditation gives the practice the capacity to deliver projects in accordance with the required standards.

Paul Bodill, director at CPMG said: “We’re delighted to have successfully migrated to ISO19650, continuing our long-standing approach towards the innovative use of BIM in our projects. A strong proportion of our work is in the education sector and we are very often appointed by contractors to deliver designs for the Department for Education, so this accreditation will mean that we meet the government-led standard and can continue to build our extensive portfolio and experience in this area.

“We work in an increasingly globalised industry, so it’s great to work to an international standard that can be picked up and used by organisations around the world. It’s also more flexible than the previous BSI standard, giving us greater scope for collaboration.

“While the most recent Digital Construction Report shows that more than half of practices CPMG’s size use BIM, just 14 per cent work to the ISO standard, so receiving this mark really sets us apart from similar-sized practices.”

The now-retired PAS 1192 standard was seen as the original benchmark in BIM processes and has been superseded by ISO19650 in order to keep pace with the innovation in the sector.

Richard Flisher, managing director at CPMG, said: “Having developed processes and systems that worked to the BSI standard, the migration to ISO19650 was an essential move in order to ensure that the practice remains at the forefront of developments in the BIM space.

“This accreditation is not just important for frameworks and public sector projects, also for work procured directly from contractors, for whom holding a recognised standard is now becoming a pre-requisite for working with them.”