Dubai Municipality has established a working group to lead the digital transformation in the building and construction sector in Dubai and to implement Building Information Modeling (BIM). Also Dubai’s Emirate represented by Dubai Municipality has been chosen to host the BuildingSMART’s UAE local chapter as the first country in the region to host a similar chapter. BuildingSMART aims to lead the digital transformation in the construction sector for buildings, assets and infrastructure. It is committed to create and adopt unified global digital standards for designing buildings and assets and for the projects phases’ workflow. BuildingSMART helps owners and all participants in the supply chain such as consultants, contractors and operators collaborate and communicate efficiently throughout all phases of the project and asset lifecycle. The organization includes in its membership: companies, governmental entities and universities from different countries of the world, working together to develop unified global standards for BIM. Hosting the local chapter is expected to enhance UAE’s global leadership position in the field of digital transformation and innovation in the building and construction sector and to make it a global contributor in this field, with its wide experience that made it ranked among the best countries in the international competitiveness reports in the areas of road quality and ease of issuing building permits. The UAE chapter will focus on supporting the digital transformation of the construction sector in UAE through cooperation with all government entities, private companies and specialized educational institutions, and on participating actively in the various buildingSMART working groups especially the ones related to regulations, automated code compliance checking, roads, airports, integration with GIS, and digital twin. The local chapter is going also to contribute in raising awareness about the importance of using open BIM standards by organizing workshops and conferences that targets participants from the UAE and the region, and overseeing training programs and issuing internationally accredited certificates. The chapter is planning also to contribute in providing a localized content and in translating BIM standards into Arabic. The building and construction sector worldwide is moving towards digitalization by increasing the usage of modern technologies and methodologies such as BIM, which has multiple benefits throughout the entire life cycle of the asset. Those benefits include reducing costs, saving time, increasing the efficiency of the construction and operation processes, as well as providing the necessary information on buildings to enable provide smart services, increasing the use of 3D printing in construction and reducing the dependence on unskilled labors. ​