Legal barriers and associated solutions of BIM implementation in the Egyptian AEC industry

Abstract

Adopting building information modelling BIM results in a faster and more effective process from planning to closeout. However, BIM remains a new and unadopted process in most countries, and where it is adopted, the lack of knowledge in addition to multiple barriers hinder the full adoption of such technology. The research aims to explore the barriers of BIM adoption, with a special focus on legal and contractual barriers in the Egyptian industry. First, the legal barriers are identified from the literature, second, offered solutions as per FIDIC, NEC ConsensusDocs, and CIC BIM protocol are identified. Third the Egyptian BIM code is studied and compared against the international forms to identify the gaps in the Egyptian BIM code. The impact of the identified barriers and solutions are then measured and ranked in the Egyptian AEC industry through a questionnaire that was developed and was later validated through a case study where different stakeholders in a specific Egyptian project utilizing BIM were interviewed to fill the gaps in the Egyptian BIM code.