You have a Revit model, a deadline, and a permit application in Dubai. The question on your desk is simple: will Dubai Municipality take your .rvt file? No. Since 1 January 2024, Dubai Municipality requires a BIM model with the building permit application for defined project categories, and that model must be submitted as IFC through the Dubai BIM e-Submission platform at bim.geodubai.ae. Your native Revit file is where the work happens; the IFC export is what gets reviewed.
The mandate is a set of rules that requires building information models to accompany permit applications for certain project types in Dubai. It is not new. The requirement started with Circular 196 in 2013, which applied to buildings of 40 floors or more and 300,000 sq ft or larger. Circular 207 in 2015 widened those thresholds to cover more project categories. From 1 January 2024, Dubai Municipality has required a BIM model with the building permit application for the defined categories.
Behind the mandate sits the Dubai Building Code, issued under Decree No. (45) of 2021, which Dubai Municipality enforces. The practical effect for an architect is that your model becomes a legal submission document, not just a design tool. It gets checked, machine-first.
A quick note on history, because it explains why older project teams still get confused. Between 2013 and the 2024 update, expectations shifted from “submit a model” to a full openBIM workflow with structured data requirements. Teams that learned Revit five years ago and never touched IFC are the ones who struggle now.
Model as submission. The architect builds in Revit as usual, but the permit set is the IFC export, uploaded through the Dubai BIM e-Submission platform at bim.geodubai.ae. Every decision you make in Revit, from wall types to room naming, affects whether that export passes review.
Automated code checking. Dubai Municipality checks submitted models against automated code-compliance rules before a human reviewer is involved. That means a machine reads your model’s geometry and data first. If your fire-rated walls are not modelled as fire-rated walls, the checker does not know they are fire-rated.
Issue reporting. When the automated check finds problems, they come back as BCF reports. BCF is the openBIM format for exchanging model comments and issues between software platforms, so a Revit-based team and a reviewer on a different tool are speaking the same language.
Data requirements. IDS, the Information Delivery Specification, makes data requirements machine-readable. In plain terms: the authority states what properties your building elements must carry, and software can verify whether your IFC file carries them. Your Revit families need those parameters mapped before export, not after.
Information management. The whole workflow sits on ISO 19650 as the information management framework. If you have heard that term and shrugged, understand that it governs how information is named, produced, checked and handed over across the project.
| Component | Role in a Dubai Municipality submission |
|---|---|
| IFC | The submission format. Your Revit model is exported to IFC; the IFC file is the deliverable. |
| IDS | Machine-readable data requirements, defining what properties model elements must carry. |
| BCF | Compliance issue reporting. Problems found by the checker come back in this format. |
| ISO 19650 | The information management framework that structures the whole process. |
Dubai is not one permitting system. Depending on where your plot sits, you may answer to a different authority with its own portal and standards:
The practical point: a submission workflow that passes in one jurisdiction is not automatically identical in another. Before you set up your Revit templates and export settings, confirm which authority owns your permit. The Dubai Municipality requirements described here apply to DM submissions.
Here is a working sequence, in the order that causes the fewest problems.
The pre-check step is the one most teams skip and regret. Dubai Municipality runs automated code-compliance rules before human review, so you can predict most of the outcome yourself. Running the same checker first turns a rejection cycle into a short internal loop.
If you are an architect or technician in Dubai, here is a realistic order of learning:
For structure, Orbit Training’s Revit Architecture course in Dubai runs 35 hours by default, with an optional 45-hour Professional package, and is aligned with ISO 19650. That covers steps one through five in a project-based format rather than leaving you to piece it together from circulars.
BIM capability has moved from a differentiator to a baseline expectation on projects that fall under the mandate. Since the requirement applies to defined project categories across Dubai’s permitting authorities, architects who can produce compliant IFC deliverables are working on the projects that require them. Teams that cannot are dependent on someone else in the office who can. I will not quote salary figures here because I do not have verified ones, but the direction is clear: the mandate made BIM submission skills part of the core job in Dubai architecture practices.
Submitting the .rvt file. The most frequent question, and the answer is always no. A native Revit or ArchiCAD file is not the final deliverable for Dubai Municipality building permits; the IFC export is.
Modelling first, asking questions later. Properties that the IDS requirements expect must exist in the model. Adding them after design completion is slow, error-prone work.
Skipping the pre-check. The compliance checker is free and public. Not using it means your first feedback comes from the authority instead of from yourself.
Assuming all of Dubai is DM. Trakhees, DDA and the free zones have their own portals and standards. Check before you build your submission plan.
Treating BIM as a software skill only. Revit is the tool; ISO 19650 is the framework that tells you what information to produce, when, and to what standard. Practices interview for both.
No. Dubai Municipality requires the BIM model as IFC, submitted through the Dubai BIM e-Submission platform at bim.geodubai.ae. The native Revit file is your working file, not the deliverable.
Circular 196 (2013) set the original trigger at 40 floors and 300,000 sq ft. Circular 207 (2015) widened the scope, and since 1 January 2024 a BIM model has been required with the building permit application for the defined project categories.
Both are Dubai permitting authorities, but they operate separate portals and standards. DM uses the Dubai BIM e-Submission platform at bim.geodubai.ae with its openBIM stack. Trakhees (PCFC), along with DDA and the free zones including DIFC, has its own submission route. Confirm which authority covers your plot before setting up your workflow.
Go to bim.geodubai.ae/code-checker. It is free and public, accepts zipped IFC files, and exports BCF reports showing the issues found. Fix those issues in Revit, re-export, and re-check before you submit.
The default quoted duration is 35 hours, with an optional 45-hour Professional package. The course is aligned with ISO 19650.
If you want to go deeper on the background first, read our guides on understanding the Dubai Municipality BIM standard with Revit and who must comply with the Dubai Municipality BIM mandate. When you are ready to build the skills properly, the Revit Architecture course at Orbit Training Centre covers the modelling, the IFC workflow and the ISO 19650 alignment in one project-based programme.
How Dubai Municipality’s BIM mandate affects Revit users: IFC submission, thresholds, compliance checking, and training options explained.
