Vietnam's BIM mandate: what changed on 1 July 2026

11 July 2026: three layers of legislation changed at once

Vietnamese construction law sits in three layers — law, decree, circular. What makes this change unusual is that all three were replaced on the same day. Read any one of them from the old version and the conclusion shifts.

2Who is covered: new buildings of Grade II or higher, regardless of capital

Article 8(1) of Decree 217 requires BIM for new buildings of Grade II or higher, starting from the feasibility study report or the economic-technical report. The old decree attached a condition — “Group B projects or above” — and that condition has been removed. Privately funded projects are covered once they cross the grade threshold.

Exceptions are left to the investment decision-maker: linear works, projects in areas of special character, and projects involving state secrets. For buildings outside the scope, voluntary adoption is encouraged.

So what is “Grade II”? Appendix II, Table 2 of Circular 34, item “Buildings and building-type structures”, sets six criteria and applies the highest grade reached by any of them. Crossing one criterion is enough.

Looking only at storeys and height misses something. Gross floor area over 10,000 ㎡ alone makes a building Grade II. A mid-size apartment block or a factory can be low-rise and still qualify on area. Storey counting has its own rules: above-ground and semi-basement storeys are added together, attics are excluded, and a rooftop structure is excluded only if it covers 30% or less of the roof slab.

3What must be submitted: IFC, and what the model has to contain

Article 8(3) requires the project owner of a covered building to submit BIM data to the construction authority in addition to the ordinary review dossier. Format and content are as follows.

• Format — open-standard IFC, or another open format suited to the works. The old decree required “native file plus IFC 4.0 together”; the current one makes IFC the default and asks for the native file only on request, for comparison
• Content — the building's location and three-dimensional geometry, the principal dimensions of the main components, and the connection scheme to technical infrastructure inside and outside the building. The last item is new
• Native file conditions — when requested, it must preserve the model's parameters, object structure and attributes intact

Article 8(5) also lists how the authority uses BIM data in review: location, massing and principal dimensions; the architectural and main structural scheme; spatial organisation and technical systems; compliance with codes and standards; and technical clash checking (kiểm tra xung đột kỹ thuật) together with extraction of key indicators. Clash checking and quantity indicators are now written into the review itself.

Once an authority has the infrastructure in place, the BIM model replaces paper design documents and carries the same legal weight.

Article 8(5)(b). Content shown fully and accurately in the model no longer needs to be submitted on paper. The proviso is “where the authority is equipped to do so”.

Two further obligations follow. For public-investment projects, buildings of Grade I or higher require the owner to set up and run a common data environment (CDE), and every covered building must have its as-built BIM model updated into the national construction-activity database after completion.

4The point of contact with the authority has moved

Under the old decree the construction authority reviewed the design, and the list of documents to submit was written into the decree. Decree 217 no longer contains that article. Under Article 41, the design stage immediately before contractor selection is reviewed by the owner itself. The meeting with the authority has moved earlier, to the feasibility study review.

5Where the discipline split and the precision level are written

Decree 217 does not divide BIM into disciplines; it speaks only of “main components” (cấu kiện chính). The one document that lists disciplines is the Prime Minister's Decision 258/QĐ-TTg of 17 March 2023. In setting the minimum requirements for a BIM file, it names the three-dimensional geometry of the main structure and the HVAC, ventilation and plumbing pipework as separate items. Structure comes first.

Precision is set by Chapter 4 of the Ministry of Construction's Decision 348/QĐ-BXD, the general BIM guidance. LOD 200 is a basic-design model with relative quantities and dimensions and approximate positions, used for estimates; LOD 300 has accurate quantities, dimensions, geometry and positions, and the guidance states that it “must provide sufficient information for quantity take-off”. To take off quantities, you need LOD 300.

The take-off method and forms are in Appendix VI of Circular 13/2021/TT-BXD: a summary form, BẢNG 6.1, and a detailed form, BẢNG 6.2, together with the measurement and deduction rules for concrete, formwork and reinforcement. These forms are not submitted to the authority; they are the statutory forms used in owner review, tendering and contracts.

6What it means for structure and quantities

From here on this is our own view. Please read it separately from the facts above.

The regime asks for two things at two levels. The model submitted to the authority goes as far as location, 3D geometry and principal dimensions; the quantities used with the owner and in tendering must be at LOD 300 precision. The shortest way to satisfy both with one model is to narrow the scope to the main structure the law names first, and within that scope to build every dimension and position exactly as drawn.

BIM 258-S, which we built for the Vietnamese market, follows that order. The name comes from Decision 258, and the product family follows the discipline split that Decision 258 made. It reads the member schedules and plans of 2D structural drawings, builds the structural frame model automatically, and takes off concrete and formwork quantities from the same model. Output in the Circular 13 Appendix VI forms is scheduled for December 2026 and IFC export for early 2027. We note what works today and what is planned separately.

The regime split the disciplines, and structure is the first box. The product widens in the same order.

Product details are on the BIM 258 product page.