Information Delivery Specification (IDS) for Digital Building Permits: An Interoperable Framework for Semi-Automated Compliance Checking and Sustainable Information Management

Abstract

The digitalisation of the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) sector is creating new opportunities to overcome manual, document-based building permit procedures characterised by lengthy assessments and limited traceability. Digital Building Permits (DBPs) can support interoperable and data-driven regulatory workflows, but structured methodologies for translating regulatory provisions into machine-readable verification rules and systematically assessing their translatability remain limited. This study investigates the use of the Information Delivery Specification (IDS) to formalise selected hygienic, sanitary, and accessibility requirements drawn from Italian national and municipal regulations and test them on IFC-based design proposals. Sixty-two clauses from three regulatory sources were classified according to their IDS translatability: 23% were directly translatable, 47% required additional or custom information, and 31% remained outside native IDS verification. The study also identifies current limitations of IDS in verifying calculated or derived information and explores a complementary Python-based research prototype, functionally tested on a residential case study, to compute selected derived parameters directly from IFC models. The proposed framework supports designers and public authorities in performing semi-automated compliance checking, contributing to the twin digital and green transition of the construction sector while providing a foundation for more transparent and reusable regulatory information management.