Traditional 2D design of ship lock metal structure has problems such as large drawing calculation workload，long design cycle，limited professional collaboration，and difficulty in drawing and reading complex structures.BIM technology can be used to unify the design route of metal structure，complete BIM model creation，finite element calculation，engineering drawing export，etc. ,based on standard templates，and realize forward design of metal structure BIM.BIM technology has the characteristics of modular design，collaborative design，parametric design and visual design，and using it to carry out the metal structure design of ship lock can shorten the design cycle，promote the process of product standardization and serialization，promote inter-professional collaboration，realize the driving modification and automatic update of parameters，and accurately express and convey design intent.Practice shows that compared with the traditional 2D design mode，the use of BIM technology for ship lock metal structure design can effectively improve the design efficiency and quality，and realize the efficient transmission and integrated management of information，which has significant advantages.