Measuring building information modeling maturity: a Hong Kong case study

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) has been lauded as a ‘game changer’ for the construction industry. Growing studies show a strong interest among researchers and practitioners to assess the maturity of BIM implementation, which helps understand its quality and degrees of excellence. However, no single study to date has comprehensively measured BIM maturity at the project, organization, and industry levels and thus achieved a holistic view of BIM implementation. Therefore, this study aims to measure BIM maturity at these three scales using Hong Kong’s construction context as a specific case. To this end, this study collected publicly available information of BIM implementation projects and adopted the multifunctional BIM maturity model as the measurement tool. The results found that construction projects in Hong Kong vary in terms of BIM maturity, with more than half ranging from Stage 0 to 1. The study also discovered that the BIM maturities of construction-related organizations in Hong Kong differ from each other, primarily owing to the different developments of their BIM processes and protocols. The industry-level assessment indicated unbalanced development in BIM technologies, processes, and protocols. The value of this study is threefold. Firstly, it provides an in-depth understanding of BIM maturity in Hong Kong. Secondly, it contributes to BIM maturity measurement by highlighting the dynamics of BIM technologies, processes, and protocols at the project, organization, and industry levels. Thirdly, it offers operational procedures for BIM maturity measurement.