Transforming BIM engineering and code compliance with generative-AI

In this article Oh Qi Qi, an Exyte Subject Matter Expert for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and regulation, explores the challenges of compliance in pharma facility design, how Exyte’s ReguBIM AI is revolutionizing the process, and how adopting the platform can have significant business benefits.

The challenge of compliance in pharma facility design

When designing facilities for pharma and biotech companies, those working in the AEC industry must ensure they follow strict regulatory frameworks, also known as code compliance. These regulations are in place to ensure the safety of the buildings and also safeguard the manufacturing environments that directly impact patient safety. They cover everything from fire safety and airflow systems through to spacing between cleanrooms and placement of exits or access roads.

Currently, this process is time-consuming, error-prone, and requires manual cross-checking of 3D Building Information Modeling (BIM) against complex, text-based regulations. Designers typically create detailed BIM models, often in Revit or similar platforms, which essentially act as virtual blueprints for the facility. Meanwhile, regulations are documented in long, text-heavy rulebooks, full of technical language and legal terms. Verifying compliance requires engineers and compliance officers to manually cross-check BIM models against hundreds of pages of guidelines, including ensuring that fire exits are placed at appropriate intervals or that corridors meet the minimum width requirements.

The manual verification process is:

• Time-consuming: Every model component must be checked thoroughly.
• Error-prone: Even slight misinterpretation of regulations can lead to significant mistakes.
• Costly: If deviations from the requirements are discovered late in the project, redesigns, re-approvals, and project delays can be expensive.

Introducing ReguBIM AI

Exyte developed ReguBIM AI to tackle this time-consuming, error-prone, and costly process. The platform acts as a compliance assistant powered by generative AI, capable of interpreting regulatory documents and linking them seamlessly with 3-dimensional (3D) BIM data. Instead of engineers having to manually read through complex regulations, ReguBIM AI automatically checks designs for compliance issues and generates actionable reports.

The system is built on Databricks’ scalable platform, using the medallion architecture for efficient data management. Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) pipelines, triggered by file arrivals, automatically transform both 3D BIM models and regulatory documents into clean, analysis-ready formats. The platform is deployed as a Databricks App, running on serverless infrastructure to allow flexibility as projects change and ensure easy integration with workflows already used by engineering teams.

ReguBIM AI is just getting started, but it’s a significant step towards change, ensuring code compliance is faster, easier, and more accurate for everyone working on a project.

Core capabilities of ReguBIM AI

ReguBIM has five key capabilities that speed up the design and engineering process.

• Bridges BIM and regulations: Automates compliance checks by connecting 3D Revit models with text-based building codes through AI.
• End-to-end AI-powered architecture: Built on Databricks with medallion architecture, MLflow, and LandChain orchestration for scalable, secure, and modular deployment.
• Spatial intelligence and visualization: Performs advanced spatial analysis, such as pathfinding and distance checks, and visualizes results using graph-based libraries.
• Retrieval-augmented code reasoning: Uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and re-ranking to extract and interpret the most relevant regulatory clauses for any user query.
• Automated compliance reporting: Generates detailed compliance reports highlighting risks, including distance violations, missing fire access roads, or insufficient corridor widths. Reports also suggest design improvements.

Business benefits and return on investment

Traditional compliance verification requires resource-heavy effort, taking up a huge amount of time for engineers, compliance experts, and legal reviewers. By automating this process, ReguBIM AI has several business benefits:

• Speed: Compliance cycles are reduced from weeks of work down to hours, accelerating facility design timelines.
• Accuracy: AI-powered checks reduce the reliance on manual interpretation and minimize missed risks.
• Cost savings: By catching compliance issues early, redesign costs and project delays can be avoided.
• Scalability: The system can handle large-scale, multi-facility projects where manual compliance checks would take a substantial amount of time.
• Consistency: AI ensures the same rigor is applied to every project, reducing variability.

Exyte’s leadership in digital innovation

At Exyte, we are a global Engineering, Procurement, and Construction firm specializing in designing and building high-tech facilities. We're leaders in creating some of the world's most complex advanced facilities across multiple industries. With ReguBIM AI, we are extending our leadership into digital engineering innovation. By combining generative AI with our expertise in facility design and regulatory landscapes, we are demonstrating how technology can de-risk and accelerate some of the industry’s major bottlenecks.

We see ReguBIM AI becoming a standardized compliance partner, combining building codes and sector-specific requirements. We see our platform as a collaborative assistant rather than a replacement for engineers or compliance professionals, enabling them to spend less time on paperwork and more time on innovation, problem-solving, and safety assurance.

Smarter, faster, safer compliance

With Exyte’s ReguBIM AI, we are addressing some of the industry’s major pain points. By combining BIM, generative AI, and regulatory compliance, we are empowering organizations to meet facility requirements with speed, precision, and cost-efficiency. For pharma and biotech companies under tight project timelines and complex regulatory demands, our innovation helps teams design and deliver facilities faster, safer, and smarter.

Contact one of our experts to find out how Exyte can help you speed up your facility design process, with compliant, reliable, industry-leading solutions.