Spotlight: IES Sync, and a Revit energy model that is not rebuilt twice
IES launched a native Revit-to-IES VE connection. Geometry, including voids and plenums, can leave Revit without a gbXML rebuild.
Yesterday’s unused story was a snap back to source geometry in Cesium. The leftover Autodesk University note that still matters in the model is a handover change: IES launched IES Sync for Revit as a native path from Revit into IES VE.
That is not a new energy engine. Firms already author rooms in Revit and run compliance, loads and sizing in IES VE. The usual waste is the file in between. Someone exports gbXML or IFC, or traces a DXF, and the energy modeller spends a day healing missing voids, broken plenums and rooms that never survived translation. IES’s claim is that the same geometry can now leave Revit through an IES-owned connection, with a check at each step instead of a surprise after import.
What actually changed
The 15 September product note and the IES Sync page describe a shared data intelligence layer built by IES, not a third-party geometry bridge. At launch it carries geometry, including voids and air plenums, which is the part file-based methods most often lose. Informed Infrastructure repeats that constructions and other energy-relevant packs are planned for version 2, with a Constructions and Materials pack likely first.
The workflow is five guided steps: pick the floor plans you want to analyse, detect rooms and spaces, generate the analytical model, review it in the IES Sync interface, then sync into IES VE. IES says each stage returns a clear success or failure, so the model that lands in VE is ready to refine rather than rebuild. What you do next is unchanged: compliance, HVAC loads, sizing and performance studies in the tool you already run.
Kieran Murray, IES product manager, told Informed Infrastructure that modelers have rebuilt the same project twice, once in Revit and again in VE, and that Sync is meant to cut a typical day’s handover by around 50 percent. The product page uses the same figure against a manual workflow with a reference model. Treat it as a vendor number. Time the first live job yourself.
Two limits matter for a BIM lead. First, thermal data does not travel yet. IES says you populate constructions from VE templates and compliance libraries while version 2 is in development. Second, this is a paid add-on. You need an IES Sync for Revit seat and an IES VE licence. It does not replace a clean room and space model in Revit. Garbage rooms still become garbage zones.
Availability is slightly ahead of the original AU wording. The 15 September note said “coming soon.” The product page now says it is available to purchase. Informed Infrastructure, on 22 September, said early October for IES customers with an active Revit workflow. A first-look webinar is listed for 29 September. Confirm the start date before you promise it on a bid.
What a BIM or VDC lead should do
Do not drop gbXML from the method statement because a native connector exists. Keep the file path as the fallback until you have one closed project. Use this where the pain is real: a Revit model that already has rooms and spaces, a VE study that used to start with a day of healing, and a modeller who can tell you whether the voids and plenums arrived.
Pick one non-sensitive job. Run the five steps. Then ask four questions: do the rooms and spaces match the Revit schedule; do the voids and plenums that used to vanish still exist; does the review screen flag the errors you already know about; and how long does the handover take against last month’s rebuild.
If the answers hold, the energy model can start from the design geometry instead of a traced copy. If a plenum is missing or a construction still has to be assigned by hand, keep VE templates in the method and treat Sync as geometry intake, not a finished BEM.
Start with IES’s product page and the 22 September Informed Infrastructure note.
Frequently asked questions
What did IES announce?
IES Sync for Revit, a standalone native connection from Autodesk Revit into IES VE. It was shown at Autodesk University 2026 and is sold as a separate product alongside an IES VE licence.
Does this replace gbXML, IFC or BIM Navigator?
It is meant to replace the file-based handover, not the energy study. IES says BIM Navigator stays on file transfers and that IES Sync is the guided successor. You still run compliance, loads and sizing in IES VE.
What actually comes across today?
Geometry, including rooms, spaces, voids and air plenums. IES is explicit that constructions and materials are not in the first release. Those are planned as a later data pack, with beta users voting on the order.
When can a firm buy it?
The product page now says it is available to purchase. Informed Infrastructure, on 22 September, said availability starts in early October for IES customers with an active Revit workflow. Confirm the seat and start date with IES before you write it into a method.