ColombiaClass: proposal for a BIM Classification System for public buildings in Colombia

The use of standardized BIM Classification Systems helps to improve the efficiency of the tendering, planning, and control of construction projects. The Colombian government has identified BIM as a key strategy to help increase the construction industry's productivity and improve value for money in public works projects. At the core of the strategy is the need to implement a standardized Classification System that allows the government to consistently verify project scope, compare bids, and easily control projects. Although numerous Classification Systems already exist, they do not include prevalent construction methods and linguistic variations specific to Colombia, which can lead to misrepresentation issues and lack of standardization across the industry. In this paper, a Colombian BIM Classification System is proposed, called ColombiaClass. ColombiaClass was developed based on the Chilean regulations for the standardization of construction items (NCh 1156), and adjusted to the Colombian context defining the order, classification, and name up to level 3 using current technical regulations, different databases for budgets of official entities and the collaboration with Colombian construction professionals. It was validated in 2 ways: checking ColombiaClass's ability to represent multiple official construction budgets corresponding to five Colombian regions (83% of the country) and using the Delphi Method, conducting two expert panels: one with field engineers and architects, and the other with BIM experts from the Colombian Ministry of Housing, BIM Forum Colombia, and the Colombian National Planning Department (DPN). As future research, the authors call to develop levels 4 and following, using the methodology described in this paper.