BIM implementation started in Spain in 2014, when the European Union required member countries to modernise their public procurement and tendering regulations for construction. As a result, the Spanish Ministry of Public Works set up the Commission for the Implementation of the BIM Methodology in 2015.
The schedule set by the Ministry of Public Works for the implementation of BIM was as follows:
- From 12th March 2018: recommended use of BIM methodology in public tenders.
- From 26th July 2019: BIM becomes mandatory for all publicly funded infrastructure construction projects.
The project “Replacement of stay cables of the Centenary Bridge in Seville” was one of the first to use BIM methodology. Some of the advantages of its use in that project were the following:
- A parametric model was first made by means of visual programming. This made it possible to exactly specify and define the geometrical conditions existing at any point in the model. In addition, the actual cross-sections were obtained in order to take into account the variable quantities along the structure, such as the longitudinal slope of the deck, or the angle of inclination of the stay cables.
- To visualise the construction project intuitively and clearly, according to properties such as the state (existing, to be eliminated or to be executed) or the type of material (concrete, steel).
