BIM design software solutions worth $3 billion across 57 countries: report

Architectural CAD dominates in developed countries, other BIM design tools and civil CAD are the next biggest categories, followed by structural CAD.

By Cambashi February 17, 2017

Cambashi announced the launch of its latest market data resource, the Cambashi BIM Design Observatory. This observatory provides a comprehensive, quantitative view of the BIM (building information modeling) design software market. The observatory ensures a sound basis for analyzing size, growth, movement, and other trends to support planning at local, regional and global levels.

Architectural CAD dominates in developed countries

The Cambashi BIM Design Observatory presents spending on BIM Design software in terms of eight key segments: architectural CAD, civil CAD, civil CAE, MEP, structural CAD, structural CAE, general purpose CAD, and other software tools. In the first general release of this data, Architectural CAD accounts for around one-third of the US $3 billion market.

Architectural CAD is the highest spending category in all but one of the top six countries, only China—out of US, Germany, France, UK, Japan and China—has greater spending in another category, civil CAD. This may be because many of the iconic buildings in China are designed by international architect firms, potentially designing outside China. However, there are many substantial civil engineering projects—dams, roads, railways, bridges etc.—in China. The majority, if not all, of these are designed and built by Chinese companies. So, not only are there many more civil engineering projects in China, more of them are designed in China too.

Reliable data enables stakeholder buy-in to the marketing plan

The size of the market for BIM design in each of the eight software categories is detailed for 57 countries. There are eight countries in the Americas region, 14 in APAC, and 35 in EMEA.

Data for the BIM design software market is included from 2012 to 2016. Forecasts out to 2020 are also included. The forecasts are based on a combination of Cambashi analysis and econometric data from Oxford Economics.

For BIM market planners who need to size just one or more of the sub-segments, such as MEP design software or structural analysis software, there has been little reliable, authoritative market data.