Reimagining AEC podcast

The Information Management Initiative: From a Board Commitment to Rules for Every Role

0:00
17:57
Rewind 15 seconds
Fast Forward 15 seconds

Speaking on Reimagining AEC, a podcast he owns and makes himself, Dr Sepehr Abrishami walks a hypothetical engineering consultancy, invented for teaching, through the Information Management Initiative, the industry programme led by nima and the Construction Leadership Council, and sets it beside ALEC Holdings, one of the first international contracting groups reported to have completed the Initiative's four steps. The history from the earlier BIM and information management mandates comes first, then the five layers, the organisations the Initiative touches and its four steps, from on-boarding and the Sector-Wide Directive to an Organisation-Level Mandate and the role-specific rules of the IMI Framework. A final section covers how an organisation takes part today and where the Initiative stood by mid 2026.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Opening: a contracting group that has completed the steps
  • 2:23 From government mandates to an industry initiative
  • 5:11 Five layers and four steps
  • 6:45 Committing at the top: on-boarding, the Directive and the route map
  • 10:39 Carrying it down: the internal mandate and the Framework rules
  • 13:38 Taking part, and where the Initiative stands
  • 15:56 Close

After listening, you should be able to:

  • Explain why the Information Management Initiative was set up and who leads it.
  • Describe the structure of the Initiative and the players it involves.
  • Distinguish the four steps of its procedure and what each commits an organisation to.
  • Apply the procedure to plan how an organisation would take part.

References

  • British Standards Institution. (2018a). BS EN ISO 19650-1:2018 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM). Information management using building information modelling. Part 1: Concepts and principles. BSI.
  • British Standards Institution. (2018b). BS EN ISO 19650-2:2018 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM). Information management using building information modelling. Part 2: Delivery phase of the assets (UK National Annex revised 2021). BSI.
  • British Standards Institution. (2020). BS EN ISO 19650-3:2020 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM). Information management using building information modelling. Part 3: Operational phase of the assets. BSI.
  • British Standards Institution, & nima. (n.d.). IMI Framework. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://imiframework.org/
  • Infrastructure and Projects Authority. (2021). Transforming infrastructure performance: Roadmap to 2030. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-infrastructure-performance-roadmap-to-2030
  • nima. (n.d.-a). IMI FAQs. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://wearenima.im/imi/imi-faqs/
  • nima. (n.d.-b). IMI: The Information Management Initiative, empowering change, summary. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://wearenima.im/imi/
  • nima. (n.d.-c). Introducing the Information Management Initiative (IMI). Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://wearenima.im/imi/about-information-management-initiative-old/
  • nima. (2024, November 11). Construction Leadership Council and nima launch Information Management Initiative (IMI). https://wearenima.im/construction-leadership-council-and-nima-launch-information-management-initiative-imi/
  • nima. (2025a, May 30). New IMI Framework to extend UK BIM Framework. https://wearenima.im/new-imi-framework/
  • nima. (2025b, September 4). nima quarterly forum, Q3 2025 [Presentation slides]. https://wearenima.im/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Nima-quarterly-forum-Q3-2025-1.pdf
  • nima. (2026a, March 12). Consultation opens on proposed changes to ISO 19650 Parts 1 and 2. https://wearenima.im/consultation-opens-on-proposed-changes-to-iso-19650-parts-1-and-2/
  • nima. (2026b, June). Nima Q2 quarterly forum [Presentation slides]. https://wearenima.im/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Nima-Q2-quarterly-forum-slides.v2.pdf
  • nima. (2026c, July 29). UAE-based ALEC Holdings embraces the Information Management Intiative [sic]. https://wearenima.im/uae-based-alec-holdings-embraces-the-information-management-intiative/
  • nima, & Construction Leadership Council. (n.d.). Summary: The Information Management (IM) Initiative for the built and managed environment. nima.

Reimagining AEC is Dr Sepehr Abrishami's own podcast. Related episodes take up neighbouring subjects one at a time, among them information management concepts under ISO 19650, the information management function and the NBS Digital Construction Report 2025, and each can be heard in any order.

More episodes from "Reimagining AEC"