## 3 Background
### Digitalisation of the Construction Sector  
MEP systems provide particular, basic services that help to expand and complement the economic efficiency, utility and durability of buildings and create comfortable environments throughout the entire lifecycles of buildings [9]. These services commonly include heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), along with electric, electronic, plumbing and anti-power systems [10]. For housing projects, the functionality and efficiency of these facilities can have a huge impact on a project's sustainability and success [11]. As building designs and requirements evolve into more complete and complex installations [12], progress in computational technologies and their continuous integration into the construction industry have proven effective in dealing with these new challenges [13].  
BIM represents a work methodology that combines information and communication technologies, improving project management and facilitating the application of international standards throughout buildings' lifecycles [12]. BIM encompasses digital modelling, simulation, coordination, optimisation and automatic drawing generated by computers; it facilitates information storage and exchange between different users, enhancing project understanding and outcome development [14]. A major challenge of the BIM methodology is the accurate exchange of information between the software of different disciplines (interoperability) [15]. In addition, working with BIM requires collaborative work methodologies that focus on information exchange, coordination and collaboration among the stakeholders [16].  
Solving problems of interoperability between the software for different disciplines is one of the major challenges in implementing the BIM methodology. In fact, this kind of problem can also appear within the software of a single company. Table 1 provides a selection of the many studies in the literature dealing with the interoperability problems in Autodesk(r) software. This table includes the aim of the study, the different software used for the modelling (modelling software) and the software used to deliver the information (visual programming tool). These visual programming language software packages are based on textual programming languages; they visually represent actions composed of linear string sequences of code. The analysis in Table 1 shows that interoperability problems can be found in different disciplines (such as facility management, heritage, coordination and MEP). Regarding the software analysis, the table shows that Revit is the most common modelling software, and, for the delivery of the information, visual programming language software packages (Dynamo or Grasshopper) are commonly used.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Reference** & **Aim** & **Modelling Software** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Visual Programming** \\ **Language Software** \\ \end{tabular} \\ \hline
[17] & Facility management & Revit, Solibri & Dynamo \\
[18] & State of the art review & Revit, Robot, Tricalc & Dynamo, Grasshopper \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Examples of studies using Autodesk software that deal with interoperability problems.