Saint-Gobain Placo provides the largest library of high-quality BIM objects for plasterboard systems and panels in Spain.
The Saint-Gobain company, founded in 1665, has been providing high-quality products for the international construction sector for 360 years, making it one of the most important and leading companies in the market.
In Spain, Saint-Gobain has several brands and companies that represent this leadership. In particular, the Saint-Gobain Placo company and brand has historically been one of the most dynamic in developing a strategy for digitising its product catalogue, especially in the field of BIM (Building Information Modelling) methodology and technology.
Placo®’s major commitment is to provide and offer construction professionals powerful tools for digital specification, highlighting the technical characteristics of its products and their interaction in BIM projects in Spain.
This commitment to digitalisation and excellence is in line with the Spanish National BIM Plan (Order PCM/818/2023, of 18 July, publishing the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 27 June 2023, approving the Plan for the Incorporation of BIM Methodology in public procurement by the General State Administration and its public bodies and public law entities linked to or dependent on it), which, although it came into force on 1 April 2024, and is currently in its second phase after 1 October 2025, affecting the entire public construction project sector. This means that both professionals and product manufacturers who wish to be active participants in public projects requiring BIM will have to adapt their procedures and working tools to BIM, and thus make greater use of BIM libraries, such as Placo®.
Table for the gradual implementation of the Spanish BIM Plan
Placo® and its wide range of BIM objects
Saint-Gobain Placo now offers professionals a large library of BIM objects. Specifically, it has more than 300 product profiles and more than 400 BIM files in Revit®, Archicad® and IFC formats.
In addition, some of its BIM objects are available in English and Catalan to meet the specific needs of certain projects. For international projects developed in Spain, the English version is offered to facilitate communication with agents who use this language. On the other hand, for projects carried out in Catalonia, the BIM objects have been adapted to the Catalan language, thus complying with the linguistic requirements established in the Administrative and Technical Specifications. This responds to a key need for linguistic adaptation in BIM environments.
‘This makes Placo® the plasterboard manufacturer that offers the most options and specification opportunities to professionals in Spain.’
The Placo® BIM Library is free to access, subject to registration.
Quality and standardisation as a working philosophy.
Placo® has chosen the GDO-BIM Standard as the benchmark standard for its developments. This is because the GDO-BIM Standard is the most widely used internationally for the development of BIM libraries and has the most standardised BIM content available on the internet.
The standard provides Placo® BIM objects with higher quality, as they have a data structure that is consistent with other BIM developments, making the project information structure compatible and thus saving time in work processes for professionals and projects.
The data structure of Placo® objects reflects the multi-combination of Psets or product information in relation to the LOIN, as well as the Phases and Dimensions that are worked on in BIM projects.
This combination system aims to facilitate the understanding and functionality of the information parameters at all times, so that every professional involved in the process can manage and view the information without having to delete information in the early stages or transfer data in later stages.
Compatibility of the Trespa BIM Library with the European Wood BIM Library.
The European Union, through the Horizon 2020 consortium called ‘Build in Wood’, has developed, in collaboration with the company Bimetica, the European Wood Construction BIM Library, with an investment in BIM of €624,000. One of the project’s objectives is to develop more environmentally friendly buildings in Europe by promoting the use of BIM objects made from wood products to design wooden buildings.
This BIM wood library has been developed in accordance with the GDO-BIM Standard, thus ensuring direct compatibility in the use and combination of data structures with Placo® BIM Objects.
By combining the digitised products from Placo® with those from the European BIM Library for Timber Construction, it will be possible to develop more eco-efficient projects that comply with the environmental and regulatory objectives of the European Union. This will facilitate the work of professionals in the planning and construction of BIM projects.
