The social life of the novel idea: What did social psychologists ever do for us?

Purpose - The paper presents the extant literature relating to the social processes of innovation in built environment design teams. The paper connects the relevant and significant work in the field of Social Psychology and Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) to derive a theoretical framework which can be used to direct further research, towards development of the behavioural facet of design management. Design/methodology/approach - First, we establish which aspects of social processes of innovation are already present within the AEC field and examine concepts/ideas in Social Psychology that are likely to be important in understanding group processes within AEC, applying three emergent themes of 1) social climate; 2) risk attitudes and 3) motivation and reward. Second, we identify which elements of Social Psychology may be used to expand, consolidate and develop our understanding and identify gaps in AEC specific knowledge. Findings - The paper suggests that whilst the AEC literature has supplanted some key elements of Social Psychology, this discipline offers a further and significant theoretical resource. However, whilst some aspects of social climate and motivation/reward are well-represented in the AEC field, these have not yet been fully explored. Furthermore, how collective attitudes to risk can influence design decision-making is identified as having a limited presence. Originality/value - This paper is the first to bring together the two disciplines of AEC and Social Psychology to examine the social aspects of innovative design performance in built environment teams. The paper fulfils an identified need to examine the social processes that influence innovative design performance in constructio

nD modelling: Industry uptake considerations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key enablers and obstacles to the effective adoption and use of nD modelling technology. Design/methodology/approach – This paper explores the feasibility of industry absorbing and diffusing nD modelling technology by considering key technology transfer issues; namely, organisational direction, inter-organisational networks and the knowledge characteristics of technology. Findings from semi-structured interviews around a diagnostic technology transfer framework are used to offer implications for theory and practice. Findings – The results from 15 survey interviews indicate that construction professionals appreciate the potential significant benefits of nD modelling technology, but at present, nD modelling technology is seen as too embryonic; too far removed from construction firms' “comfort zones”; requiring too much investment; and, containing too many risks. Originality/value – The paper stresses that the challenge for nD modelling technology, along with any new technology, is to shift from its “technology push” emphasis, to a more balanced “market orientated” stance, which allows the technology to be shaped by both strategic design concerns, and day-to-day operational needs. If this trajectory is pursued, nD modelling technology could have a positive future

Collaborative knowledge management - A construction case study

Due to the new threats and challenges faced by the construction industry today, construction companies must seek new solutions in order to remain ahead of the competition. Knowledge has been identified to be a significant organisational resource, which if used effectively can provide competitive advantage. A lot of emphasis is being put on how to identify, capture and share knowledge in today's organisations. It has been argued over the years that due to the fragmented nature of the construction industry and ad-hoc nature of the construction projects, capture and reuse of valuable knowledge gathered during a construction project pose a challenge. As a result critical mistakes are repeated on projects and construction professionals have to kee

BIM and its impact upon project success outcomes from a Facilities Management perspective

The uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been increasing, but some of its promoted potential benefits have been slow to materialise. In particular, claims that BIM will revolutionise facilities management (FM) creating efficiencies in the whole-life of building operations have yet to be achieved on a wide scale, certainly in comparison to tangible progress made for the prior design and construction phases. To attempt to unravel the factors at play in the adoption of BIM during the operational phase, and in particular, understand if adoption by facilities managers (FMs) is lagging behind other disciplines, this study aims to understand if current BIM processes can ease the challenges in this area faced by facilities management project stakeholders. To do this, success from a facilities management viewpoint is considered and barriers to facilities management success are explored, with focused BIM use proposed as a solution to these barriers. Qualitative research was undertaken, using semi structured interviews to collect data from a non-probability sample of 7 project- and facilities- management practitioners. Key results from this study show that the main barrier to BIM adoption by facilities managers is software interoperability, with reports that facilities management systems are unable to easily import BIM data produced during the design and construction stages. Additionally, facilities managers were not treated as salient stakeholders by Project Managers, further negatively affecting facilities management project success outcomes. A µresistance to change was identified as another barrier, as facilities managers were sceptical of the ability of current BIMenabled systems promoted as being FM compatible to be able to replicate their existing Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) legacy software and its user required capabilities. The results of this study highlight that more work is needed to ensure that BIM benefits the end user, as there was no reported use of BIM data for dedicated facilities management purposes. Further investigation into the challenges of interoperability could add significant value to this developing research area.The uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been increasing, but some of its promoted potential benefits have been slow to materialise. In particular, claims that BIM will revolutionise facilities management (FM) creating efficiencies in the whole-life of building operations have yet to be achieved on a wide scale, certainly in comparison to tangible progress made for the prior design and construction phases. To attempt to unravel the factors at play in the adoption of BIM during the operational phase, and in particular, understand if adoption by facilities managers (FMs) is lagging behind other disciplines, this study aims to understand if current BIM processes can ease the challenges in this area faced by facilities management project stakeholders. To do this, success from a facilities management viewpoint is considered and barriers to facilities management success are explored, with focused BIM use proposed as a solution to these barriers. Qualitative research was undertaken, using semi structured interviews to collect data from a non-probability sample of 7 project- and facilities- management practitioners. Key results from this study show that the main barrier to BIM adoption by facilities managers is software interoperability, with reports that facilities management systems are unable to easily import BIM data produced during the design and construction stages. Additionally, facilities managers were not treated as salient stakeholders by Project Managers, further negatively affecting facilities management project success outcomes. A µresistance to change was identified as another barrier, as facilities managers were sceptical of the ability of current BIMenabled systems promoted as being FM compatible to be able to replicate their existing Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM) legacy software and its user required capabilities. The results of this study highlight that more work is needed to ensure that BIM benefits the end user, as there was no reported use of BIM data for dedicated facilities management purposes. Further investigation into the challenges of interoperability could add significant value to this developing research area

Past, present and future of information and knowledge sharing in the construction industry: Towards semantic service-based e-construction

The paper reviews product data technology initiatives in the construction sector and provides a synthesis of related ICT industry needs. A comparison between (a) the data centric characteristics of Product Data Technology (PDT) and (b) ontology with a focus on semantics, is given, highlighting the pros and cons of each approach. The paper advocates the migration from data-centric application integration to ontology-based business process support, and proposes inter-enterprise collaboration architectures and frameworks based on semantic services, underpinned by ontology-based knowledge structures. The paper discusses the main reasons behind the low industry take up of product data technology, and proposes a preliminary roadmap for the wide industry diffusion of the proposed approach. In this respect, the paper stresses the value of adopting alliance-based modes of operation

BIM communication waste

Developments in Information and Communication Technology can bring about significant improvements in the efficiency of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction and Facilities Management industry. Building Information Modelling (BIM), is a term which encompasses a type of software but more importantly a set of processes which, at their core, support an approach for integrated project delivery enabled by interoperable software systems. The last three years have seen intensified and coordinated adoption of BIM in the UK mainly as a result of the mandate of the UK government. One facet of these developments is the growing need for BIM collaboration tools which can interoperate effectively with the various BIM software systems, support the required standards and codes of practice and provide for requirements of construction project information production and management such as model-based workflows, model-based communication, model-based procurement, role-based data access and role-based privileges. The pre-requisites for collaboration can be broadly divided into two categories: (1) coordination of information and responsibilities, and (2) communication. This research recognizes the strong focus of recent and ongoing efforts to provide for coordination and aims to support the communication aspect. Additionally, successful collaborative practice results from (1) the "softer" or "human-aspect" issues: collaborative culture, software training and adherence to protocols as well as from (2) the provision of appropriate, intuitive and configurable collaboration tools and, more generally, digital collaboration environments. This research focuses on the latter. Despite efforts from a variety of software-as-a-service (SaaS) collaboration tool vendors to achieve dominance in the market, there is still uncertainty as to what type of solutions would best support BIM collaboration. Additionally, there is considerable variation in software configurations and a lack of a universally applicable method for evaluating the communication capabilities of BIM collaboration tools in a meaningful way. Vendors lack a robust conceptual framework to guide the long-term development of their tools and evaluate them. The process of requirements engineering, which in this context involves a diversity of stakeholders and involves projects at different BIM maturity levels would benefit significantly from a robust, context-specific conceptual model-ontology. The aim of this research is to produce a context-specific conceptual model-ontology which can support the discourse of requirements engineering and provide a robust and widely applicable framework for evaluating the communication capabilities of BIM collaboration tools. It is anticipated that this would help reduce BIM communication waste . To meet this aim, BIM collaboration tools were studied from five perspectives: 1.Users: their opinions, requirements and requests were collected through an online questionnaire survey. 2.Vendor: their perspective was captured through semi-structured interviews. 3.Schemata for interoperability: effectiveness of tools and schemata was evaluated through analysis of software by data fidelity study and scenario-based testing. 4.Tool use: patterns of digitally-enabled communication were explored through an analysis of communication data and meta-data collected from a collaboration tool. 5.Tool improvement: a successful approach in improving a collaboration tool was examined through the development of a context-specific requirements engineering process. This process was evaluated through semi-structured interviews with collaboration tool implementation consultants. Each perspective helped produce more specific requirements from the model as well as elements of the model itself. The end result was the Model for communication waste in BIM process interactions (WIMBIM). WIMBIM has the BIM process transmission as the fundamental unit of analysis and focuses on BIM communication waste and how it results from sub-optimal collaboration tools and schemata. The ultimate purpose of WIMBIM is to support the development of technology which would reduce this waste. This model was converted into a communicable format and was related to BIM standards to aid contextualization and gap identification. To evaluate the validity and utility of this model, interviews with BIM experts were conducted, and the proposed model was found to be a valid approach to address aspects of BIM waste, which is not usually examined and could potentially complement the existing model for BIM maturity. Additionally, the model provides a useful lens for further academic research into BIM collaboration tools

A Semantic Data Model to Represent Building Material Data in AEC Collaborative Workflows

The specification of building material is required in multiple phases of engineering and construction projects towards holistic BIM implementations. Building material information plays a vital role in design decisions by enabling different simulation processes, such as energy, acoustic, lighting, etc. Utilization and sharing of building material information between stakeholders are some of the major influencing factors on the practical implementation of the BIM process. Different meta-data schemas (e.g. IFC) are usually available to represent and share material information amongst partners involved in a construction project. However, these schemas have their own constraints to enable efficient data sharing amongst stakeholders. This paper explains these constraints and proposes a methodological approach for the representation of material data using semantic web concepts aiming to support the sharing of BIM data and interoperability enhancements in collaboration workflows. As a result, the DICBM (https://w3id.org/digitalconstruction/BuildingMaterials) ontology was developed which improves the management of building material information in the BIM-based collaboration process.:Abstract 1. Introduction and Background 1.1 Building Information Modeling for collaboration 1.2 Information management in AEC using semantic web technologies 2 DICBM: Digital Construction Building Material Ontology 2.1 Building Material Data in IFC 2.2 Overview of the building material ontology 2.3 Integration of external ontology concepts and roles 2.4 Material Definition 2.5 Material, Material Type, and Material Property 2.6 Data Properties in DICBM 3 Conclusions Acknowledgments Reference