ETIM UK, a partnership between the Electrical Distributors’ Association (EDA) and the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF), chose Digital Construction Week 2024 to introduce the UK to a tried and tested, cost-effective option for manufacturers that need to create 3D product objects for use in BIM models: ETIM Modelling Class or ETIM MC.

Whilst new to the UK, ETIM MC is already popular in a number of European markets. Margaret Fitzsimons, Board Director at ETIM UK and CEO at the EDA, opened the presentation and introduced Jeroen van der Holst, Community Director at ETIM International, who had flown in from the Netherlands.

“ETIM MC is an extension to the ETIM product data standard, which we introduced to the UK back in 2017 and which is now adopted widely. We are now making interested parties aware of another potential string to the ETIM bow, the Modelling Class add-on, and our presentation today marks the start of the conversation,” explained Margaret Fitzsimons, adding, “Following our presentation on the Information Management Stage at Digital Construction Week, we invited representatives from across the construction supply chain to a focus group to hear their thoughts on the potential for ETIM MC in the UK. The creation and sharing of BIM objects is a complex topic with well-established players, but ETIM MC offers tremendous potential for the many manufacturers that have not already created BIM objects for their products. This is very much the start of the conversation for the UK.”

Richard Appleton, Board Director at ETIM UK and Head of Digitalisation at the EDA, explained how ETIM Modelling Class works, “It is a valuable add-on to the widely used core ETIM standard that provides a structure for geometric product data that can render a 3D BIM object. ETIM Modelling Class is particularly suitable for repeatable BIM objects that come in many sizes and dimensions, but which are broadly similar in shape, such as cable trays and pumps.

“When combined with a hosted library of generic objects, ETIM MC enables the creation of manufacturer-specific 3D objects with sufficient detail for most practical mechanical, electrical and plumbing design and installation purposes.”

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