Construction site communication study using the RAM management system for BIM adaptation

The UK’s construction industry is witnessing an annual increase in costs due to a lack of communication between the different organizational operators on the construction site that often leads to construction defects. Meanwhile, a cost-reduction strategy plan using BIM has become a fundamental requirement for the government, aiming to keep costs under control. To facilitate BIM adoption in the industry, the BIM strategy was introduced in four phases, with each stage entailing a number of criteria. The industry has seen a global reaction to the Level 2 BIM program and a significant cost saving of 840M in 2013/14 in Europe. However, the industry is unable to match the level 3 BIM, where a collaborative model file server is required as a common sharable platform to achieve efficient communication. This study contributes toward formulating a communication framework in the UK industry to understand communication issues and manage defects. A survey was targeted at construction industry practitioners and academics, with a total number of 328 participants

BIM Capability Audit of Contracting-Based Organisations

The UK government set up a BIM Task Group in 2011 to provide guidance and support to the industry. This paper reports on BIM Capability audits that were undertaken on two contractor-based organisations to assess their level of readiness to implement BIM level 2 and to highlight training and upskilling needs. The audits were undertaken using a detailed set of 80 questions covering technology, workflows, processes and business strategies. Follow up interviews were undertaken to clarify any ambiguities in the responses received. A vertical cross section of each organisation was audited in order to provide a fully representative sample of the companies as the implementation of BIM will have an impact on the whole business model of the firms. The organisations had differing aspirations and timescales for the implementation of BIM and to some extent this was demonstrated by the outcome of the audits. The results were found to be consistent with the findings of another major similar HS2 upskilling study which the authors were also involved in