Easy and reliable exchange of data between BIM tools constitutes an important part of BIM-baseddesign processes. This is especially important for performance-based design as most performance simulationtools are evolving separately as a standalone simulation software package. IFC is a standard data model widelyused by the construction industry for digital data exchanges between BIM tools. However, IFC is developed tocapture a comprehensive data for all stages of the project lifecycle and carries a wide range of informationwhich are not of interest for performance-based simulations as well as lacks important required information.Consequently, there is a need to precisely define the required information and the responsible actors in eachexchange. The aim of this research was, therefore, to develop information exchange requirements with thecorresponding responsible actors for lighting simulations in the design stage. Developing information Exchangerequirements for lighting simulations requires experts. Accordingly, a qualitative research setup in the form ofa semi-structured interviews supported by a literature study and document analysis was conducted. The resultsshowed that lighting simulation is conducted in the two key parts of the design stage iteratively to optimize theanalysis result. This study has limitations concerning the absence of definition of technical terms, level of importanceof information and mere focus on the design stage. However, considering the audience of this studyto be experts in the area, and most information exchanges happen during the design stage, the findings promisepartial generalization to BIM-based lighting analysis in the design stage.