Homes England has launched a procurement experiment requiring three SME housebuilder partners to deliver IFC-compliant open BIM models using only open source authoring tools, specifically FreeCAD and the BlenderBIM Add-on. The pilot, overseen by the government body's digital delivery team, aims to assess whether open source tooling can meet Level 2 BIM requirements without vendor lock-in. Initial findings are expected to be published as an open government report in early 2025.

Source: BIM Plus