Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the UK Construction Industry

In response to the question regarding the number of projects each member was involved with that utilized BIM, 10 respondents had only worked with 3 or less such projects. Another 19 had worked with 4-6 projects each while 13 respondents worked with 6-9 projects. 8 respondents, who represented 15.4% of the total respondents, had experience of working with 10 or more projects.

This question was asked to determine the level of risks was involved in using BIM. 30.8% of the respondents were of the opinion that use of BIM involved no risks at all. Another 30.8 % found slight risks with the use of BIM. Interestingly, the same percentage of respondents found fair amount of risk associated with use of BIM. Only 3.8% of the respondents found serious or significant risks associated with the use of BIM. Hence, it can be assumed that BIM may pose slight or fair amount of risk in some cases while serious risks are rarely involved.

Respondents were inquired about the convenience of using BIM software/platform in order to ascertain what level of convenience accompanies its use. Only 4 respondents, or 7.7%, found the software to be very convenient in use. Another 17 respondents, or 32.7%, found the softwares to be fairly convenient while another 15 respondents, or 28.8%, were of the opinion that these softwares are slightly convenient. A considerable number of respondents found the softwares to be not convenient at all as 14 respondents, or 26.9%, checked the ‘not convenient’ box in the survey.

The opinion was found to be divided when respondents were asked if they thought core responsibilities of the members of the project team would change eventually with the use of IBM. While 9.6% respondents disagreed to the assertion that responsibilities would change with the use of IBM, another 36.5% were neutral about it. 21.2% or 11 respondents agreed that the responsibilities of the project team members would indeed change whereas 15 respondents, or 28.8 of all respondents, strongly agreed with this assertion.

This question asked the respondents if they had experienced any modifications to construction agreements in order to address BIM. Only 4 respondents said that they never saw any such modification, which shows that BIM is being increasingly incorporated in construction agreements. Half of the respondents, i.e. 25, claimed that they had experienced this modification sometimes. Another 18 had experienced it at often times.

Only 3 respondents experienced this modification always, which shows that this practice is still not universally applied in the country.

On being asked if they believed that BIM inadvertently changes risk allocation to parties who typically do not usually handle these types of risks, only 9 respondents or 17.3% of the total said that they did not believe so. 20 respondents were neutral regarding this question. Another 10 or 19.2% agreed that BIM does change mechanisms of risk allocation to parties who typically do not usually handle these type or risks. Another 11, or 21.2%, strongly agreed with this assertion.

This question was asked to determine the future prospects of BIM in terms of it being efficient in time and money saving, reducing claims and increasing quality. 23 respondents agreed that BIM held such promise for the future. Another 7 respondents strongly agreed with this assertion. However, 13 respondents were still neutral regarding this assertion. Another 7 respondents, or 13.5%, considered that BIM held no such potential to become the next design and construction process that holds promise for saving time and money, reducing claims and increasing quality.

When respondents were asked of their opinion regarding how beneficial the use of BIM has been to their construction projects, only 3 respondents replied that they did not find it useful at all. 18 respondents found BIM to be slightly beneficial to their construction projects. Another 23 respondents found BIM to be fairly beneficial while 6 considered BIM to be extremely beneficial for their construction projects.

40 respondents were willing to participate in further surveys regarding BIM while the rest of the 10 respondents said that they did not want to participate in further follow-up survey.

The responses gathered through this survey show that BIM has gained a fair amount of popularity among individuals associated with construction projects. It has already been used by a decent proportion of these individuals, many of whom are satisfied with the outcome. Nonetheless, at the same time, the convenience in using the software is still questionable as some of the respondents responded to this question unfavorably. Also, the construction sector seems to be divided over the risks involved with using BIM. It is encouraging to note that BIM is being incorporated in many construction agreements today, as is evident by this survey. The industry is still unsure if the role of people involved in construction projects would change with use of BIM which could be attributed to the lack of experience with this technology. With the passage of time and more usage of BIM, construction managers would become more aware regarding its effects on the role of individual in construction projects. The future prospects for BIM seem to be bright and promising, as a number of respondents were hopeful that this technology could bring benefits in the form of time and energy savings and betterment of quality.