The digital construction landscape is moving fast this quarter. From veteran powerhouses pivoting their entire delivery model to niche tools getting an “AI brain,” there is plenty to unpack. Here is what’s been happening in the world of BIM and Information Management.
Solibri’s Giant Leap: Desktop to Cloud
The big news rocking the coordination world is Solibri’s transition away from its traditional desktop-only model. On April 13, 2026, Solibri officially retired “Solibri Office” for new purchases, shifting toward a tiered, platform-based ecosystem.
For years, Solibri has been the gold standard for deep-dive data validation and rule-based checking. However, its “island” status—an isolated desktop environment—was becoming a bottleneck in an era where Revizto and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) offer seamless, live cloud collaboration.
- The Strategy: By moving to the cloud, Solibri is finally addressing the “issue tracker” gap, aiming to challenge the market leaders who have dominated the live coordination space.
- The Verdict: It remains the best all-in-one checker for technical data integrity and complex coordination. If they can successfully marry their world-class rule engine with a modern cloud interface, they’ll be a formidable force again.
Hands-on: The New Solibri COBie Add-on
I’ve been putting the new Solibri COBie add-on through its paces recently. It looks promising, but as with all things COBie, the devil is in the mapping.
A current hurdle for many (myself included) is the Revit-to-Solibri handshake. When using the standard Revit IFC 2×3 Coordination MVD, Solibri’s COBie tool doesn’t always automatically pick up the parameters, even though they are present in the IFC.
Pro-Tip: To avoid a “lengthy” manual remapping of every Property Set in Solibri Classifications, keep an eye out for the specific Revit export XML settings that align with the add-on’s expectations. Without these, you’re looking at a significant task to get the data to flow into the right COBie sheets.
Morta: AI with a Side of Waffle
On the Information Management side, Morta has introduced an integrated AI function. Unlike generic LLMs, this is built directly into Morta’s native syntax.
- The Good: It’s incredibly helpful for complex formulas and can actually generate tables and columns based on your prompts. Because it understands Morta’s specific environment, it saves a lot of “trial and error” time.
- The “Early Days” Feel: The AI does have a habit of “chatting with itself”—literally asking and answering its own questions in the chat window—and can be a bit wordy.
Despite the occasional waffle, the potential here is massive. Having an AI that understands your specific data schema and can automate the “grunt work” of table setup is a win for any Information Manager.
Other News in Brief
- ISO 19650 Compliance: There is a renewed push on LinkedIn regarding standardized MEP data quality, with new extensions being launched specifically to enforce Finnish and UK national standards within validation software.
- Digital Concrete: Saint-Gobain’s Verifi has hit a new milestone in real-time concrete data tracking, proving that “Digital Construction” is moving well beyond the design office and onto the back of the delivery truck.
Leave a comment