The Building Information Model server (BIMserver) is just what you need to setup your new online project collaboration environment for BIM. BIMserver is open source, which means it is free to use. All they expect from you is your feedback for further development. However, they will appreciate your financial support by buying the BIMserver Book.

As per their description, this software enables you to host your own BIMserver to centralize the information of any construction (or other building related) project. The core is based on the open standard IFC and therefore knows how to handle IFC data. The BIMserver is not a fileserver;

IFC data are interpreted by a smart core and stored in an underlying database. BIMserver can export to other open BIM standards which are becoming popular such as those used by Sketchup and Google Earth.

BIM server supports multiuser working simultaneously with checkout and check-in features and revision records. It supports for user access control on read and write of data, which becomes handy when used with project > subproject hierarchy. For example, you can set that MEP designer can read the total project, but can write only to MEP subproject. You can download the BIMserver software from their site and install in your computer and try it out. You don’t need a web server for this purpose.