A strategic framework for digital maturity of design and construction through a systematic review and application

Abstract

The digital transformation of design and construction has been chaotic and ad-hoc. This has necessitated the need for clear guidelines and strategic frameworks to guide designers and builders. This paper aims to develop a strategic framework for assessing the digital maturity of design and construction in the Australian context. This research is conducted in three phases using a bottom-up approach. The early, transition and mature stage characteristics of digital maturity are first identified using a systematic literature review. Subsequently, the characteristics are mapped to the New South Wales (NSW) Government's ten-point commitment to the construction sector to propose a conceptual framework, which is then applied to understand the current digital maturity of design and construction in NSW through an industry-wide questionnaire survey. The paper reveals a lack of clear understanding of the stages of digital maturity and proposes a strategic framework for digitalisation of design and construction (SFDDC) to guide systematic improvement. The SFDDC is a decadal framework that considers feasible levels of digitalisation of design and construction and is characterised by a series of baseline technologies and minimum targets at each stage. It is expected to be a catalyst towards digitally driven processes and integrated functional digital twins.