Association of Researchers in Construction Management

Design errors are claimed to account for 26% of the cost of defects, these in turn are stated to encompass 2-9% of production cost for building and constructions. Lack of knowledge and information has been identified as a major reasons for design errors. Recently Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been considered as a mean for reducing design errors. However, limited research has been conducted on the role of BIM as a means for transfer and sharing knowledge in order to reduce design errors. The aim of the paper is to analyse BIM's role of facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing in order to prevent design errors. The aim is achieved by analysing a case study of design errors in a construction project. By drawing on the concept of boundary object it is confirmed that BIM can serve a mean for preventing design errors by facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing, across discipline, time and space, and professional boundaries. Depending the kind of boundary knowledge and expertise should be shared across, different challenges emerge in organizing the knowledge and expertise sharin

Association of Researchers in Construction Management

Design errors are claimed to account for 26% of the cost of defects, these in turn are stated to encompass 2-9% of production cost for building and constructions. Lack of knowledge and information has been identified as a major reasons for design errors. Recently Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been considered as a mean for reducing design errors. However, limited research has been conducted on the role of BIM as a means for transfer and sharing knowledge in order to reduce design errors. The aim of the paper is to analyse BIM's role of facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing in order to prevent design errors. The aim is achieved by analysing a case study of design errors in a construction project. By drawing on the concept of boundary object it is confirmed that BIM can serve a mean for preventing design errors by facilitating knowledge and expertise sharing, across discipline, time and space, and professional boundaries. Depending the kind of boundary knowledge and expertise should be shared across, different challenges emerge in organizing the knowledge and expertise sharin

UNDERSTANDING ADOPTION AND USE OF ICT IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS THROUGH THE LENS OF CONTEXT, ACTORS AND TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT In the literature on construction related ICT no distinction is usually made between ICT use in the permanent organization and the temporary organization forming the building and construction projects. By drawing on the rich body of literature on organizational and managerial aspects of ICT the aim of the paper is to investigate how the interplay between contextual elements, actors' frames of reference, and the ICT influence the adoption and use of ICT in building and construction projects. This objective will be pursued by an analysis of an ongoing study of ICT use in the Swedish building and construction sector, including semi-structured interviews and an ethnographic inspired study of a partnering project worth 50 million €. It is concluded that project based mode of organizing, with the prime focus on time and costs, creates a conflict with the process of introduction and development of ICT use that is characterised by ambiguity and indefinite duration in time that goes beyond the termination of a project. Unless immediate benefits are perceived by the adoption and use of an ICT application, it will not be used. This conflict can probably not wholly be solved, instead the industry has to learn to live with it and create spaces for innovation of ICT-mediated changes