ISO 19650 for Architects: What It Actually Asks of You
The parts, the roles, the documents and where the specification fits, in plain English
ISO 19650 arrives in a practice as a set of acronyms in a client's appointment documents. The ideas behind them are simple: say what information is needed, plan how it will be provided, and produce and share it in an agreed way. This guide sets out the parts of the series, the UK National Annex, the roles, the documents, the common data environment and naming, and where the specification fits.
The client states what information it needs, the delivery team plans how it will provide it, and everything is produced and shared through one agreed environment.
What is ISO 19650, and which parts matter to an architect?
ISO 19650 is the international series of standards for organising and managing information about built assets across their life, using building information modelling. For an architect on a UK project the working parts are Part 1 (concepts) and Part 2 (the delivery phase), with Part 4 (information exchange), Part 5 (security) and Part 6 (health and safety) in the background.
The series replaced much of the earlier BS 1192 and PAS 1192 family. It sets out a process: the client states what information it needs, the delivery team plans how it will provide it, and everyone produces and shares information in an agreed way. It does not say which software to use or how to model any element. In the UK, the series is supported by the free guidance of the UK BIM Framework, which is the practical place to read how it is meant to work.
Scroll horizontally to view all columns.
| Part | Subject | What it means for an architect |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 19650-1 | Concepts and principles | Vocabulary, the information requirements hierarchy, the common data environment and the idea of a level of information need |
| ISO 19650-2 | Delivery phase of assets | The process for appointing teams and producing information during design and construction. This is the part most architects work to |
| ISO 19650-3 | Operational phase of assets | Relevant when the client manages information after handover. Shapes what the architect hands over |
| ISO 19650-4 | Information exchange | Checking and accepting information exchanged between parties Published 2022. |
| ISO 19650-5 | Security-minded approach | Applies where the asset or information is sensitive. Not every project uses it |
| ISO 19650-6 | Health and safety information | Sharing health and safety risk information through the information process. Published 2025. |
Parts 1 and 2 carry most of the architect's obligations. The other parts apply when the appointment, the asset or the client brings them in.
The UK National Annex
The UK implementation adds national forewords to Parts 1 and 2 and a National Annex to Part 2. The National Annex is where the UK-specific choices sit, including the information container naming convention and the UK status codes. The UK BIM Framework guidance describes Uniclass 2015 as the preferred classification system in the UK and notes that the National Annex refers to it, with ISO 19650-2 requiring classification metadata in line with ISO 12006-2. Check the National Annex itself, available from BSI, for the exact wording when it matters to an appointment.
A revision is under way
Parts 1, 2 and 3 are under revision. Until revised editions are published and adopted in the UK, the current editions and the UK National Annex remain the reference. Check the current status before relying on any edition.
Is ISO 19650 a legal requirement?
No. It becomes binding on a project when the client's appointment documents require it. Many public-sector clients and some large private clients do. Many small private projects do not mention it, and an architect there is working to the client's own requirements. The first task is to read the appointment and find what has been asked for.
Who is the appointing party, the lead appointed party and the appointed party?
The appointing party is the client or whoever is commissioning information. The lead appointed party leads a delivery team and manages information on its behalf. An appointed party is any other organisation producing information. An architect can be any of these depending on the project.
These are the terms of ISO 19650-2, and they describe roles in the information process, not job titles. On a traditional project where the client appoints an architect and consultants separately, the architect is typically a lead appointed party for the design team or one appointed party among several. On design and build, the contractor is usually lead appointed party and the architect, once novated or retained, is an appointed party within the contractor's delivery team.
- 01
Appointing party
The client, or a body acting for the client. Sets the information requirements and accepts deliverables.
- Issues
- Organisational, asset and project information requirements, and the exchange information requirements
- Receives
- Information models and documents at the agreed exchanges
- 02
Lead appointed party
Manages the delivery team's information. Produces the BIM execution plan and the master information delivery plan.
- Issues
- BIM execution plan, master information delivery plan, task team coordination
- Receives
- Information from appointed parties and task teams
- 03
Appointed party
Produces information for its own scope. Contributes a task information delivery plan.
- Issues
- Task information delivery plan and deliverables for its scope
- Receives
- Reference information and project standards
- 04
Task team
The group within an appointed party that produces a given deliverable.
- Issues
- Information containers under the project naming and status rules
- Receives
- Instructions from its appointed party
A single organisation can take different roles on different projects, or on the same project at different times.
The information management function
ISO 19650 expects the information management tasks to be assigned to someone. These tasks include maintaining the common data environment, checking that information follows the project standards and keeping the plans current. They are usually carried out by a BIM coordinator or information manager, and on smaller projects by the project architect. The role is a function, not a post: the standard requires the function to be performed, not a particular person to be hired.
What this means in practice for a small practice
A small practice is more often an appointed party than a lead appointed party. The practical consequences are modest: respond to the exchange information requirements, contribute a task information delivery plan, follow the project's naming, status and classification rules, and issue through the project's common data environment. A practice that works this way on every project, whether or not the client asks, finds the lead-party role easier to take on when it comes.
What are the EIR, BEP, MIDP and TIDP, and what does the architect contribute?
The client's exchange information requirements say what is wanted. The delivery team's BIM execution plan says how it will be provided. The task and master information delivery plans say what will be delivered and when. The architect contributes to the response, the plan and the delivery schedule.
In the current series the document commonly called the EIR is the exchange information requirements. Older UK practice used PAS 1192 and the term employer's information requirements, and some clients still use that phrase. The UK BIM Framework guidance uses exchange information requirements, and so does ISO 19650-2. The two are close in purpose, but the newer term is the one to use. The hierarchy runs from the client's organisational and asset information requirements, through project information requirements, into the exchange information requirements that go out with the appointment.
- 1
Exchange information requirements (EIR)
Issued by the appointing party with the invitation to tender. States the information needed, the standards, the methods and the milestones.
- 2
Pre-appointment BIM execution plan
Submitted by the tenderer. Shows how the team proposes to meet the EIR, with capability and capacity.
- 3
BIM execution plan (BEP)
Confirmed after appointment by the lead appointed party. Sets team roles, standards, the CDE workflow and the delivery strategy.
- 4
Task information delivery plans (TIDP)
Each task team lists its deliverables, the format, the responsible person and the date.
- 5
Master information delivery plan (MIDP)
The lead appointed party combines the TIDPs into one schedule aligned to the project's information milestones.
Each document answers the one before. A deliverable that appears in the TIDP but not the EIR is either an extra or a gap, and the architect should know which.
What the architect writes
A practice responding to an EIR normally contributes a capability and capacity statement, its part of the BEP and its TIDP. The TIDP lists what the practice will deliver, for example drawings by drawing type, a model, schedules and the specification, each with an information container name, a format, a responsible person and a delivery date. The architect's TIDP is also the place to state the level of information need for each deliverable at each milestone.
Level of information need
ISO 19650-1 uses the term level of information need to describe how much detail and information a deliverable should contain. It replaces the older shorthand of level of detail and level of information, and it applies to geometry, data and documentation. The point is to ask for what is needed for a purpose at a milestone and no more. For a specification, the level of information need at Stage 4 is that the document is complete enough to construct from, which the RIBA Stage 4 guide covers.
Two matrices, two jobs
The BEP includes an information management responsibility matrix, which allocates information tasks such as who maintains the CDE or who checks container metadata. This is different from the design responsibility matrix, which allocates design tasks by element. A practice that confuses them risks having one and not the other. See the design responsibility matrix guide.
What are the CDE, information containers, naming and classification?
The common data environment is the agreed workflow and place where project information is produced, shared and published. Everything held in it is an information container: a model, a drawing, a schedule or a specification, each with a name, a status, a revision and classification metadata.
A CDE is more than a shared folder. ISO 19650-2 describes a workflow in which information moves between states: work in progress, shared, published and archive. Information in work in progress is visible only to the task team producing it. Once checked and approved by its author's organisation it moves to shared for coordination, and after acceptance by the lead appointed party and appointing party it is published. Archive holds the history. The state shows how far the information can be relied on.
Naming containers
The UK National Annex sets out a naming convention for information containers. It uses fields separated by hyphens: project, originator, volume or system, level or location, type, role and number. A drawing file might therefore run from a project code, through the originator's code, to a type code for a drawing and a role code for architecture, ending in a number. The project's information standard may define permitted values for each field. Check the field names and order against the UK National Annex before use.
Container name
The seven National Annex fields identify what the container is, who made it, which part of the asset it covers and where it sits in the sequence.
Metadata
Status says how the information may be used. Revision says which version. Classification says what the information is about, in a shared system.
Naming makes containers findable. Status and classification metadata make them usable without opening them.
Status and revision
The UK National Annex defines status codes for containers, which show suitability: for example, work in progress, suitable for coordination, suitable for information, and suitable for review and authorisation. Revision codes show the version. A specification issued for tender should carry a suitability status and a revision, which is a good habit even on projects with no BIM requirement. The project's information standard states the permitted values.
Classification
ISO 19650-2 expects classification metadata on containers, in line with ISO 12006-2. The UK BIM Framework guidance describes Uniclass 2015 as the preferred system in the UK. Uniclass 2015 is published as a set of tables for different kinds of information, for example products, systems, elements and activities, so a project decides which tables apply to which containers and records the choice in the information standard. Many UK specifications are still organised by CAWS work sections, and the two systems answer different questions: CAWS arranges requirements for work, and Uniclass classifies things at several levels. The usual practical approach is to keep both and map between them. See Uniclass codes explained and CAWS to Uniclass mapping.
Avoice writes specifications in CAWS or Uniclass 2015. Each clause carries a CAWS reference or a Uniclass code, and the practice chooses which.
Where does the specification fit, and what should an architect do on Monday?
The specification is an information container like any other. It should be named, classified and statused in the CDE, produced to the level of information need agreed for the milestone, and kept consistent with the model and schedules it relates to.
Specifications often fall outside the BIM process in practice. The model is managed under ISO 19650, the drawings are issued from it, and the specification is a Word file on a server with its own naming. That is a mismatch the standard does not intend. A specification is information, and the client may use it later for operation and maintenance. Treating it as a container makes it part of the golden thread for higher-risk buildings, which the golden thread guide explains.
Where the link between model and specification matters
The model carries type references, classification codes and properties. The specification carries performance, products and execution requirements. The link between them is the identifier: the same tag, type reference or classification code on both sides. When the identifiers agree, comparison is possible. When they do not, every coordination check needs a human to work out which clause belongs to which type. Practices working in Revit or ArchiCAD should decide which fields hold the link before the first issue. The guide to Uniclass codes in Revit and ArchiCAD covers the practical set-up.
A short action list
Seven things a practice can do without waiting for a client
- Read the EIR. Find what the appointment asks for before the first meeting, including naming, status and classification.
- Write one capability statement. Keep a reusable description of the practice's information management capability and capacity.
- Adopt a naming and status convention. Use the National Annex convention internally so that project conventions are a small change.
- Include the specification in the TIDP. List it as a deliverable with a container name, a status and a delivery date.
- Tag consistently. Use one identifier for each element across the model, schedules and specification.
- Choose a classification approach. Decide which Uniclass 2015 tables apply, and how CAWS content maps to them.
- Record the information management tasks. Say who maintains the CDE and who checks metadata on the practice's side.
None of these require a new system. They require a decision on each point, and they make it easier to take the lead appointed party role later. For technical directors, the final check remains the same on a BIM project as on any other: compare the documents before issue. See the pre-issue technical review checklist.
Questions technical directors ask about ISO 19650
What is ISO 19650?
An international series of standards for managing information about built assets using building information modelling. It sets out a process in which the client states its information requirements, the delivery team plans how to meet them and information is produced and shared through a common data environment.
Is ISO 19650 mandatory in the UK?
No. It applies when the client's appointment documents require it. Many public-sector and large private clients do. Where the appointment does not mention it, the architect works to the client's stated requirements.
What is the UK National Annex to ISO 19650-2?
A UK addition to Part 2 that sets UK-specific choices, including the information container naming convention and status codes. The UK BIM Framework guidance notes that it refers to Uniclass 2015 for classification.
What is the difference between EIR, BEP, MIDP and TIDP?
The exchange information requirements (EIR) state what the client needs. The BIM execution plan (BEP) states how the delivery team will provide it. Each task team lists its deliverables in a task information delivery plan (TIDP), and the lead appointed party combines these in the master information delivery plan (MIDP).
Does the specification need to follow ISO 19650?
If the project works under ISO 19650, the specification is an information container and should have a name, status, revision and classification metadata, and it should be listed in the delivery plans. Its identifiers should match the model and schedules.
Which classification system does ISO 19650 use in the UK?
ISO 19650-2 requires classification metadata in line with ISO 12006-2. UK BIM Framework guidance describes Uniclass 2015 as the preferred classification system in the UK. The project's information standard sets which tables apply.
Where Avoice fits
A specification is information that has to stay consistent with the model, the schedules and the drawings, whatever information management system surrounds it.
Avoice writes specifications in CAWS or Uniclass 2015, with each clause carrying a CAWS reference or a Uniclass code as the practice chooses, and connects to Revit and ArchiCAD so that model types and clauses can refer to the same identifiers. Practice Rules and the clause library keep wording and values consistent, and the pre-issue Technical Review compares the specification against schedules and drawings. Avoice can map an existing CAWS master to Uniclass 2015 and flag sections that need a decision, with the practice reviewing and approving each mapping. The Compliance module and Project Record support the golden thread on higher-risk buildings.
Avoice does not replace a common data environment or an information manager. It supplies a governed, comparable specification that can be named, statused and issued through the project's CDE.