About & Work

TRS helps built-environment organisations make difficult information problems clear, governable and useful.

Explore selected work
Tousif Rahman, founder and chief consultant of TRS
12 yearsBuilt environment, across delivery and research
4 countriesBangladesh · Australia · Slovenia · Netherlands
Strategy ↔ systemsEnd-to-end judgement, not one layer of it
The method

Three rules, held for twelve years, on every project.

Rule 01Data before models.See the evidence ↓
Rule 02Standards must execute.See the evidence ↓
Rule 03Build for decisions.See the evidence ↓
Rule 01

Data before models.

Asset decisions depend on governed data, not geometry. A model built on undefined data structures is an expensive picture. Define the schema, the metadata and the quality rules first, and the model is useful the day it is finished rather than the year after.

−50%

Data re-entry, inconsistency and information loss, across every project stage.

SURVEYLABDESIGNMODELGISREPORTSANALYSISHANDOVEREVERY PAIR NEGOTIATED SEPARATELY · RE-ENTRY AT EVERY EDGEGOVERNED DATA BACKBONESURVEYLABDESIGNMODELANALYSISHANDOVERONE AGREEMENT · EVERY TOOL READS THE SAME SOURCE
Fig. 01: Same project, same people. The difference is where the agreement lives.

GeoBIM framework, Slovenia

Borehole, laboratory and design data moved out of document exchange into a governed, model-linked environment. Database-first in PostgreSQL, with templates standardised before any 3D model entered the workflow.

Elea iC · one of the first operational GeoBIM frameworks in the country

Digital twin demonstrator

FAIR principles applied so data stayed accessible, traceable and reusable independently of any platform. BIM treated as structured context with defined semantics, not as the data store.

TNO · vendor-agnostic foundation for lifecycle reuse
Rule 02

Standards must execute.

ISO 19650 is worth nothing as a document. It matters only when it has been turned into daily workflows, information exchanges and quality controls that a delivery team will actually follow on a Tuesday afternoon, under deadline, without being watched.

100+

SME representatives trained in digital delivery, across the European Commission programme.

ASSESSMENTwhere the firm actually isnot where the brochure says it should beGUIDANCEwhat to fix firstand why that order and not anotherIMPLEMENTATIONphased to what a team absorbsmeasured by what people still do in month six
Fig. 02: The readiness path, as delivered to more than a hundred European SMEs.

Digitalisation of Construction SMEs

Trainer and technical expert on the European Commission programme bringing digital delivery to firms without budgets or specialist staff. Contributor to the EU Digital Construction Handbook and the digital-readiness guidance beneath it.

European Commission · the same firms, the same constraints, at European scale

Information structures across research programmes

Container states, metadata, naming conventions and data-quality approaches defined so traceability survived handover between organisations with no particular reason to trust each other.

TNO · building and infrastructure programmes
Rule 03

Build for decisions.

A system that visualises information has produced a picture. A system that reduces uncertainty and lets an owner rank what to do first has produced value. Everything is designed backwards from the decision it has to support. If no decision changes, the system should not be built.

1

National framework, now informing how Dutch smart-building programmes handle data.

LOW LOADEXPECTEDHIGH LOADONE NUMBER · NO SENSE OF RISK→ BRIDGE 14 FIRST · BRIDGE 7 NEXT · BRIDGE 22 CAN WAIT
none
Fig. 03: A single estimate tells an owner nothing about which asset to touch first. The spread is the useful part.

Digital twin for a national bridge portfolio

Bridge load data reframed as probability rather than single-value estimate, designed around how asset managers prioritise interventions rather than around standalone dashboards. Developed and validated with the Dutch national infrastructure agency and four national engineering consultancies.

Netherlands · research concept to asset-owner-ready MVP

Privacy, security and ethics framework

Governance treated as a system requirement rather than a legal add-on, so smart-building programmes could proceed instead of stalling on trust. Published publicly and reviewed by Siemens and the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf.

Brains4Buildings · peer-reviewed in REHVA Journal
Why TRS exists

Digitalisation works when information, technology and people are designed together.

The method that makes information usable is not secret and it is not expensive. It is written down, in ISO 19650, and it has been proved on some of the most demanding asset programmes in Europe.

It has almost entirely failed to reach the firms that need it most. Mid-size contractors and consultancies in South Asia and East Africa are sold the same software on none of the same ground, and then blamed when it underdelivers.

I founded TRS to close that gap. Not by simplifying the standard, but by implementing it at a scale a firm can actually absorb, starting from what a firm already has rather than what a licence promises.

The work combines engineering context, information architecture and practical implementation. Those three rarely sit in the same person, which is most of why digitalisation stalls.

Delivered with and for
RijkswaterstaatEuropean CommissionSiemensPhilipsArcadisRoyal HaskoningDHVWitteveen+BosMovaresSPIEDeernsRijksvastgoedbedrijf
Track

A practice built from infrastructure, classrooms, research, and the information between them.

2014DDC · DhakaBangladeshMetro Line-6 foundations
2016Prompt Eng · PerthAustraliaGeotechnical analysis and reporting
2019NSU · DhakaBangladeshLecturer, civil engineering
2022Elea iC · LjubljanaSloveniaGeoBIM framework · −50% re-entry
2025TNO · NetherlandsNetherlandsInfrastructure · EC SMEs · B4B
2025TRSBangladeshFounded
Published

Written down, reviewed, and public.

TRS / About & Work
2025

Integrating Privacy, Security, and Ethics in Smart Buildings: A Practical Framework for Digital ResilienceChochanova, E. & Rahman, T.

REHVA Journal
06/2025 · pp. 9–13

2025

Evaluation and Business Opportunity Report, including Recommendations for StandardisationRahman, T., Chochanova, E., Chamari, L. & Maassen, W.

Brains4Buildings
Public report

2023

Privacy, Security and Ethics Framework for Smart BuildingsRahman, T. & Chochanova, E.; reviewed by Siemens and the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf

Brains4Buildings
Public report

2025–

BIM Unlock: Your Fast-Track Guide to BIMBilingual practitioner guide to BIM adoption and information management; in progress

TRS
Knowledge Hub

Formation

Where the judgement comes from.

Education

Joint Erasmus MSc, Building Information ModellingUniversity of Ljubljana & University of Minho, 2020; thesis 9/10
MSc, Geotechnical EngineeringNewcastle University, UK, 2013
BEng (Hons), Civil EngineeringCardiff University, UK, 2012

In progress · 2026

Certificate in Information Management Using BIMRICS
Change Management, Foundation & PractitionerAPMG International
Harnessing AI & Data in the Built EnvironmentRICS

Practice

ISO 19650Information requirements, CDE strategy, asset information, data governance
openBIMIFC, IDS, BIM–GIS–IoT interoperability
PlatformsRevit, Navisworks, Solibri, Dalux, Tandem, PostgreSQL, Power BI, Python, QGIS

Want to know whether your firm is on prepared ground?

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