IFC models for (semi)automating common planning checks for building permits

TL;DR

This paper develops a method to automatically check building permit compliance using IFC models, addressing real-world model quality issues to streamline the permitting process.

Contribution

It introduces an approach that infers necessary information from existing IFC models, enabling automated regulation checks despite varying model quality.

Findings

A tool was developed to extract information from IFC models for regulation checks.

The approach addresses common issues in real-world IFC models.

The method provides a foundation for automating building permit issuance.

Abstract

To support building permit issuing with automatic digital tools, the reuse of models produced by designers would make the process quicker and more objective. However, current studies and pilots often leave a gap with respect to the models as actually provided by architects, having varying quality and content. In this study, rather than taking a top down approach, we started from the available data and made the necessary inferences, which gave the opportunity to tackle basic and common issues often preventing smooth automatic processing. Specific characteristics of the IFC models were outlined and a tool was developed to extract the necessary information from them to check representative regulations. While the case study is specific in location, regulations and input models, the type of issues encountered are a generally applicable example for automated code compliance checking. This represents a solid base for future works towards the automation of building permits issuing.