Open BIM: Entering a New Era to Cut Costs and Carbon Emissions

The transport infrastructure industry needs its roads and railway projects to be built faster, cleaner, and smarter. This is where open BIM lays the groundwork for a new path forward. It breaks down any silo and challenge designers face when conceiving projects. 

With open BIM, the limitation isn’t the file format or missing data. It’s the limits engineers place on themselves. There are no more roadblocks. The tracks now lead to cost savings, collaboration, and carbon cuts.

Let’s examine open BIM, how it differs from traditional BIM, and how it can reshape the way we design and build linear infrastructure schemes. 

What is open BIM?

Open BIM is a universal and collaborative approach to Building Information Modeling (BIM) that utilises open standards to ensure seamless collaboration among designers, engineers, contractors, and asset managers, regardless of the software they use.

Unlike traditional BIM, which can be tied to proprietary formats and tools, meaning it’s a closed system, open BIM is built on accessibility, transparency, and interoperability. It ensures data flows seamlessly across the project lifecycle, regardless of the software being used.

At its core, open BIM empowers teams to share data, reduce friction, and avoid costly miscommunication.

What are the key principles of open BIM?

Open BIM is more than a technology: it's a mindset. It enables seamless collaboration across teams, tools, and territories by removing technical barriers. 

At its core, open BIM is built on principles that ensure information flows freely, models remain accessible, and infrastructure projects can scale and adapt over time. Here's what makes open BIM work.

Open standards

Open BIM utilises international, non-proprietary formats, such as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and BCF (BIM Collaboration Format), which are not owned by any single company. This ensures data can be shared freely and consistently between different software platforms.

Interoperability and software freedom

Open BIM allows all project stakeholders to use the BIM tools of their choice (Revit, Civil 3D, ArchiCAD, etc.) without being locked into a specific vendor or file format. By supporting multiple formats (IFC, RVT, DWG, DGN, etc.), it enables smooth collaboration across disciplines and geographies.

Shared model and transparent collaboration 

Everyone on the project team accesses and contributes to a common digital model, a single source of truth. This reduces errors, avoids duplication, and streamlines communication among all participants.

Future-proof and scalable

Because it’s based on open standards, open BIM is future-proof: your models and data can evolve with technology without being stuck in outdated software.

What is the difference between BIM and open BIM?

While BIM refers to the digital representation of a project’s physical and functional characteristics, open BIM is about how this information is shared.

Think of BIM like your source code: it defines what the system is, how it behaves, and what components it includes.

As for open BIM, it constitutes your open-source framework, meaning it governs how that code is shared, versioned, and built across distributed teams using different environments. It ensures that everyone can contribute to the same repository, debug in real-time, and deploy with fewer conflicts.

In other words, BIM is the codebase. Open BIM is the GitHub. One defines the project. The other enables collaboration, transparency, and continuous integration.

How can open BIM improve the linear infrastructure industry?

You know that road, railway, tunnel or pipeline projects are complex. They span long distances, involve multiple jurisdictions, and require coordination between diverse teams. 

Open BIM brings order and coordination to large-scale, fragmented projects with results you can quantify.

Save money

Errors, duplication, and poor coordination often lead to cost overruns. Open BIM minimises these by ensuring every stakeholder works from a single source of truth:

• • Avoid design clashes and rework

With everyone working on the same up-to-date model, you can spot conflicts between structures (like pipes running through beams) early before they become expensive mistakes on site.

• • Better forecast quantities and materials

Since all components are digitally defined, open BIM makes it easier to extract accurate quantities straight from the model. 

You don’t need to guess or recalculate. You directly get reliable, real-time data for better planning. Knowing the cost of quantities and materials your project requires helps you define a more accurate price range.

• • Optimise procurement and reduce waste

With precise quantities and material specs from the start, you order only what you need. That means fewer surplus deliveries, lower costs, and less waste on the ground.

Gain time

Time is a critical resource in any infrastructure project. Open BIM speeds up the process by improving coordination.

• Work in parallel across teams and tools

With open BIM, everyone can use their preferred software (Revit, Civil 3D, ArchiCAD, etc.) and still work on the same model.

This means you don’t have to wait for architects' and contractors’ input. You can all work simultaneously, speeding up progress.

• Shorten design review cycles with shared models

Because everyone accesses the same up-to-date model, reviews and approvals occur more quickly.

No need to send endless versions back and forth. You see changes live, comment directly, and keep things moving.

• Reduce administrative delays thanks to transparent documentation

Open BIM automatically keeps a clear digital record of what’s been done, by whom, and when.

This makes reporting, compliance, and coordination much smoother. You don’t waste time chasing info or resolving confusion.

Reduce carbon emissions

Every design choice impacts the environment. Open BIM supports Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) and carbon accounting from the earliest stages of design.

• • Model and compare low-carbon alternatives

Open BIM enables you to test various design options, such as switching materials or methods, directly within the model.

You can easily compare the environmental impact of each option early on and pick the one with the lowest footprint.

• • Track embodied carbon of materials

With open BIM connected to carbon databases (like in ORIS), you can see the CO₂ impact of every material in your model.

This provides you with real data, not guesses, so you can make more informed choices about what goes into your project.

• • Align with climate goals and green finance criteria

Open BIM makes your carbon calculations transparent and traceable, ensuring they are ready for reporting.

That helps you demonstrate that your project aligns with climate targets, certifications, or funding requirements related to sustainability.

When efficiency meets sustainability

The linear infrastructure sector is under pressure to build faster, cleaner, and more resilient networks. Open BIM helps bridge the gap between design intentions and real-world outcomes.

It’s not just a digital upgrade. It’s a mindset shift from fragmented processes to open collaboration, from reactive fixes to proactive decision-making.

And with the ORIS open BIM module, this mindset becomes actionable.

It bridges the gap between the worlds of BIM and LCA, turning early-stage design into a powerful lever for both sustainability and cost efficiency.