A voiding feature is a modification of an element which reduces its volume. Such a feature may be manufactured in different ways, for example by cutting, drilling, or milling of members made of various materials, or by inlays into the formwork of cast members made of materials such as concrete. 

The standard use of instances of IfcVoidingFeature is as a part of element type objects (instances of subtypes of IfcElementType). The part–whole relationship is established by an aggregation relationship object, expressing the decomposition of an element type into one or more additive elements (element parts) and zero or more feature elements. 

The local placement for IfcVoidingFeatureElement is defined in its supertype IfcProduct. It is defined by the IfcLocalPlacement, which defines the local coordinate system that is referenced by all geometric representations.

• In case of features which are part of an element type, absolute placement into the type object's implied coordinate system shall be used.
• In case of features which are voiding an element occurrence, the PlacementRelTo relationship of IfcLocalPlacement shall point to the local placement of the respective element.