Industry Foundation Classes

The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) is a CAD data exchange data schema intended for description of architectural, building and construction industry data (ABCII). The IFC file format is based on ISO 10303-21 standard and definitions of ABCII are documented by using underlying EXPRESS. It is a platform-neutral, open data schema specification that is not controlled by a single vendor or group of vendors. It is an object-based data schema with a data model developed by buildingSMART (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability, IAI) to facilitate interoperability in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, and is a commonly used collaboration format in Building information modeling (BIM) based projects. The IFC model specification is open and available. It is registered by ISO and is an official International Standard ISO 16739-1:2024. Because of its focus on interoperability the Danish government in 2010 made the use of IFC format(s) compulsory for publicly aided building projects. In 2017 the Finnish state-owned facility management company Senate Properties started to demand use of IFC compatible software and BIM in all their projects. Also the Norwegian Government, Health and Defense client organisations require use of IFC BIM in all projects as well as many municipalities, private clients, contractors and designers have integrated IFC BIM in their business. The popularity of the IFC data schema in construction has continued to grow, primarily for the purpose of exchanging geometry.