The design review process for structural analysis and drawings is mandatory for most buildings in Germany according to building regulations. A paper-based review process is still frequent practice. Nevertheless, the PDF files with qualified electronic signatures are more and more accepted by building authorities.
Approved drawings are necessary for the execution on site. These drawings – together with structural analysis and other documents – are also needed for the documentation of the building. An adequate documentation is a requirement for refurbishment and can be crucial to the owner´s decision making. The implementation of digitalized design review processes using PDF and extended by BIM creates chances and challenges for a design review process within the whole life cycle of a building. Challenges lie in the current regulations missing or being incomplete to integrate BIM in the building permit process. Though the status of documents and models is specified in technical norms as EN ISO 19650-4, this may not be sufficient to fulfill the regulatory needs for documentation, archiving or for a handover to other parties involved in the life cycle of the building.
The design review process of documents is carried out by a design review engineer in Germany. It is required by law to document this process. In case of digital documents and BIM, the need for documentation and data exchange can be fulfilled using a CDE. Therefore, there is a need to transfer models and various documents from the owner or contractor to the design review engineer and/or the building authorities and vice versa. Standards or guidelines for the transfer of meta data from one partner to another are currently missing. Therefore, the design review engineer cannot prove the technical and legal fulfilment of his obligations of documentation.
The authors have performed different use cases to test the exchange of data for the purpose of structural design review. Based on the results of these tests they propose a set of meta data suitable for a BIM-based digitalized design review process, which is linked to ISO 19650-4, and which can improve the data exchange. It can be shown that a set of meta data is suitable to generate a “Bauwerksbuch” (housebook) developing the requirements of VDI 6200 to a digital format. This could serve as an application and part of the European digital building logbook, supporting the maintenance, re-use and renovation of a building within its lifecycle.