Proposed changes to ISO 19650 outlined in BSI/nima webinar
Proposed changes to ISO 19650 1-3 were outlined in a joint BSI/nima webinar on Tuesday 24 February. Over 900 attendees at the online briefing were told the draft information standard (DIS) for parts 1 and 2 should be available for review and comment from 10 March 2026, with Part 3 available around the start of June 2026.
The online briefing was introduced by BSI’s Dan Rossiter. Nima chair and ISO 19650 convenor Anne Kemp provided an overview of the consultations process, after which standard authors David Churcher and Paul Shillcock outlined some of the principle areas of proposed change.
ISO 19650-1 – proposed changes
David Churcher noted a subtle shift in emphasis, saying ISO 19650 is now clearly focused on the whole life of assets, removing the distinction between delivery phase and operational phase. Across assets’ life cycles, there would be various interventions – which are currently proposed to be called ‘projects’.
The revisions working group had worked hard to simplify and rationalise the language, with the emphasis now “on ‘information management’ rather than ‘BIM’ as a term”. ‘Information management’ and ‘information production’ will be phrases used to signpost particular activities that happen, and it is proposed ‘BIM execution plan’ be replaced by the term ‘information production plan’.
The Part 1 revisions will also reference relationships to other standards including ISO 7817-1 (relating to the level of information need), and ISO 29481-1 (the information delivery manual, IDM, standard).
19650-2 – proposed changes
Paul Shillcock detailed the proposed changes to ISO 19650-2, explaining the impacts of creating a single process covering the delivery and operational phases, and distinguishing between ‘information management’ and ‘information production’ processes. He said the revisions had to balance the need to make standards more accessible, inclusive and translatable, particularly for asset owners, against the cost of amending familiar current terms.
The revisions working group has not proposed any changes to the names of parties (keeping Appointing Parties, Appointed Parties, etc), but proposed changes include the introduction of an ‘information management team’, both at the organisational and at the project level.
19650-3 – proposed changes
David Churcher said Part 3 “is now being designated as a set of implementation guidelines to support the new part 2”. Matters that are not included in the new guidelines will be addressed in the IMI Framework, which will be updated after the finalised versions of Parts 1 and 2 are published.
The consultation process
BSI will be managing the 12-week consultation process, Anne Kemp said, with thousands of comments expected, all of which will need to be reviewed in order to reach a consensus about what appears in the final drafts and published standards. She urged people to make constructive comments and suggestions, and to note what they like as well as things they don’t like. She also stressed that nobody knows what will emerge from the process. In the meantime, the 2018 editions remain in place.
Further information
A recording of the webinar is available on demand via the BSI website.
Update (11 March 2026): the draft information standards (parts 1 and 2) are now available for comment. Deadline for comments is 3 May 2026.
Read Justin Stanton’s more detailed account of the webinar in Digital Construction Plus.
