Critical success competencies for the BIM implementation process : UK construction clients

Construction clients’/owners’ demand is currently being recognised as a significant motivation and drive for the construction industry to begin to transform and adopt Building Information Modelling (BIM). In addition, clients can stimulate the innovation to achieve crucial benefits from BIM. However, the implementation of BIM is prevented from being more widely accepted across the construction industry by client fears and a lack of the full understanding of the benefits of BIM, as well as the requirements needed to realise these benefits. Therefore, it is important for client organisations to develop the required competencies that support the BIM implementation process and help to achieve the desired benefits of BIM. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to identify the critical success competencies that facilitate clients to fulfil their roles in the BIM implementation process. Multiple holistic case studies were used as the research strategy and semi-structured interviews were employed as the principal data collection technique. Code-based content analysis and cognitive mapping were used to analyse the verbatim interview transcripts. The data analysis process was facilitated by the computer-aided software, Nvivo. Several types of competencies are identified as critical success factors that enable client organisations to lead the BIM implementation process and increase the efficiency in BIM uses within the UK. In addition, it is concluded that by adopting these competencies, client organisations can enhance their Employer Information Requirements (EIR) and improve their ability to validate the outcome BIM models. These developments will increase client opportunities to meet their desired benefits. This paper provides a contribution to the body of knowledge by identifying BIM organisational maturity competencies for UK clients and their roles in the BIM implementation process, together with establishing the relationship between them. This will enhance the importance of the BIM maturity competencies within the BIM implementation from a clients’ perspective. In addition, it will facilitate client organisations evaluating their ability to fulfil their roles through assessing the related competencies

Beyond BACI: Experimental designs for detecting human environmental impacts on temporal variations in natural populations

Biological effects of environmental impacts are usually defined simplistically in terms of changes in the mean of some biological variable. Many types of impact do not necessarily change long-run mean abundances. Here, designs for detection of environmental impact are reviewed and some of their shortcomings noted. New sampling designs to detect impacts that cause changes in temporal variance in abundance of populations, rather than their means, are described. These designs are effective at distinguishing pulse and press episodes of disturbance and could be used for other variables of interest (size, reproductive state, rate of growth, number of species, etc.) for monitoring. The designs require sampling different time-scales before and after a proposed development that might cause impact. Cases are discussed in which there is a single control location. Inadequacies of this approach for detection of environmental impact are mentioned, with some discussion of the consequences for management of impacts that cause temporal change rather than alterations of the mean abundance of a population

Changes in microphytobenthos fluorescence over a tidal cycle: implications for sampling designs

Intertidal microphytobenthos (MPB) are important primary producers and provide food for herbivores in soft sediments and on rocky shores. Methods of measuring MPB biomass that do not depend on the time of collection relative to the time of day or tidal conditions are important in any studies that need to compare temporal or spatial variation, effects of abiotic factors or activity of grazers. Pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry is often used to estimate biomass of MPB because it is a rapid, non-destructive method, but it is not known how measures of fluorescence are altered by changing conditions during a period of low tide. We investigated this experimentally using in situ changes in minimal fluorescence (F) on a rocky shore and on an estuarine mudflat around Sydney (Australia), during low tides. On rocky shores, the time when samples are taken during low tide had little direct influence on measures of fluorescence as long as the substratum is dry. Wetness from wave-splash, seepage from rock pools, run-off, rainfall, etc., had large consequences for any comparisons. On soft sediments, fluorescence was decreased if the sediment dried out, as happens during low-spring tides on particularly hot and dry days. Surface water affected the response of PAM and therefore measurements used to estimate MPB, emphasising the need for care to ensure that representative sampling is done during low tide

Development of an integrated BIM and lean maturity model

The level of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Lean adoption has been rapidly increased. The benefits of integrating these two approaches have also been identified. However, to achieve the maximum benefits of the interaction of these two approaches, there needs to be assessment tools to analyse their performances collectively. Because understanding and analysing the performances of these approaches would provide value to the entire project in terms of lessons learned, more value generation, and continuous improvements. Therefore, this paper aims to propose an integrated BIM and Lean Maturity Model based on reviewing the literature around current maturity models. This paper proposes an Integrated BIM and Lean Maturity Model named “IDEAL” which could serve as a basis in terms of assessing the performances of the projects implementing BIM and Lean together

Implementing BIM to streamline a Design, Manufacture and Fitting Workflow – A Case Study on a Fit-out SME in the UK.

Following the launch of the Government Construction Strategy in 2011, the UK construction sector has witnessed a significant increase in the awareness and adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). As recognised by the strategy, there are synergies between Lean Construction and BIM. BIM implementation demands changes in existing process and procedures for design and construction, representing a technology change but also a people and process change. Therefore, the implementation of BIM is a business decision that should be aligned with a business strategy in making the organisation leaner. This paper presents a BIM implementation project through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between the University of Salford and Links, a design, manufacture and fit-out SME based in the UK. KTP is a government-funded initiative to support businesses improvements by accessing universities expertise. The project aims is to implement BIM as a catalyst for a lean transformation, streamlining process and operations. The research adopts a case study methodology on a BIM implementation for Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) at Links through an approach of reviewing the organisational business process and workflows followed by exploring and implementing appropriate technologies that then enable the people and process transformation. The 30 months project is being delivered through 5 key stages. This paper presents the findings from the first two stages that have been completed to date of 1. Establishing and consolidating best practice knowledge in BIM; 2. Conducting a detailed review and analysis of the organisation’s current situation, and the third, which is currently progressing, of 3. Developing a BIM-based collaborative strategy. The remaining stages will implement a BIM-based collaborative strategy for DfMA through a pilot project before conducting a project review and evaluation

How BIM-lean integration enhances the information management process in the construction design

The construction industry faces significant challenges due to insufficient processes. Design phase is a key process of construction project lifecycle in which many problems and challenges occur. Most of the issues within the design process are mainly due to poor information management process. Therefore, it is important to adopt new innovative technologies and processes to improve information management. Over the last decade, the number of projects implementing innovative and technological processes such as BIM and Lean has been increased. However, rather applying BIM and Lean independently, integration of BIM features with lean principles would bring more benefits to the design process in terms of improving information management. This paper studies the potential benefits of integrating BIM and Lean to improve information management in terms of reducing construction design problems associated with information management challenges

The pervasive role of biological cohesion in bedform development

Sediment fluxes in aquatic environments are crucially dependent on bedform dynamics. However, sediment-flux predictions rely almost completely on clean-sand studies, despite most environments being composed of mixtures of non-cohesive sands, physically cohesive muds and biologically cohesive extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) generated by microorganisms. EPS associated with surficial biofilms are known to stabilize sediment and increase erosion thresholds. Here we present experimental data showing that the pervasive distribution of low levels of EPS throughout the sediment, rather than the high surficial levels of EPS in biofilms, is the key control on bedform dynamics. The development time for bedforms increases by up to two orders of magnitude for extremely small quantities of pervasively distributed EPS. This effect is far stronger than for physical cohesion, because EPS inhibit sand grains from moving independently. The results highlight that present bedform predictors are overly simplistic, and the associated sediment transport processes require re-assessment for the influence of EPS

Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensing with Large Area of Gold Nanoholes Fabricated by Nanosphere Lithography

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) has been extensively studied as potential chemical and biological sensing platform due to its high sensitivity to local refractive index change induced by molecule adsorbate. Previous experiments have demonstrated the LSPR generated by gold nanoholes and its biosensing. Here, we realize large uniform area of nanoholes on scale of cm2 on glass substrate by nanosphere lithography which is essential for mass production. The morphology of the nanoholes is characterized using scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope. The LSPR sensitivity of the nanoholes to local refractive index is measured to be 36 nm/RIU. However, the chip has demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity in biosensing: bovine serum albumin adsorption is detected with LSPR peak redshift of 27 nm, and biotin-streptavidin immunoassay renders a LSPR redshift of 11 nm. This work forms a foundation toward the cost-effective, high-throughput, reliable and robust chip-based LSPR biosensor