ICT barriers to implementing BIM in the Australian construction industry

The advances in ICT have led to the development of more advanced computer management systems in the Australian construction industry including Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM is an ICT enabled approach that involves digital representations of building elements and information related to different phases of the building lifecycle and is used to provide shared information and to form a reliable basis for decision making. Pilot projects and research papers have verified many of the claims made about BIM and prove a viable economic case, yet uptake of the technology still remains low. An extensive literature review was critical in the exposure of the benefits and limitations facing the implementation of BIM in an Australian context. The industries understanding of BIM was explored to discover that a lot of misconceptions still exist around its definition, with different disciplines defining it in different ways depending on how it is used. A literature review revealed three (3) key productivity gains experienced by BIM use on a construction project and listed them as accuracy, communication and time/performance. Four (4) ICT barriers to its implementation were identified as interoperability, funding and resource cost, cultural barriers and perceived risk, and security and protection. Case studies were undertaken to explore and validate the relevance of these barriers in an Australian context. Findings reveal that many companies see the benefits for BIM but believe that it is the responsibility of other disciplines and the client to implement the model. Professionals in the construction industry usually work within their field of expertise, with limited interaction with other disciplines. When professionals are solving problems they usually work within their area of expertise, however, many of the issues arising on work sites require the collaborative input of multiple disciplines. It takes a common medium of communication, provided by BIM systems, to achieve this integrated building approach. ICT barriers, discussed in this paper, prevent the Australian construction industry from taking full advantage of the potential productivity gains, proven in BIM.