Architecture, Engineering And Construction Sector Research Articles

A phenomenological inquiry of Building Information Modelling macro-adoption in Uruguay

Building information modelling (BIM) application in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sectors has received attention, particularly in most Global North countries. However, there is a dearth of literature on its application in the Global South context. This research explores insights into the uptake and use of BIM in the Uruguayan AEC sector and proposes recommendations for accelerating its adoption. This study adopted the phenomenological research design. Through interviews with experts, this study relies on phenomenological analysis of a purposely sampled group of (n = 7) experts in BIM in the Uruguayan AEC industry. The discoveries and findings confirm that BIM is still at an early stage of maturity, and many practitioners still need to be convinced of its benefits. Therefore, pilot projects and the development of BIM guidelines are essential to align industry procedures and demonstrate the benefits of implementing BIM to convince hesitant professionals and increase levels of adoption. Furthermore, organisations’ main implementation drivers are external forces such as client requirements or the need to acquire a competitive advantage. This study’s findings imply that BIM diffusion dynamics in Uruguay are more aligned with a top-down approach, thus highlighting a design for ‘push’ by authorities such as the government. Overall, this study fills a research gap in the Uruguayan AEC industry and provides an academic reference background for policymakers for future actions. The paper is of value, as it contributes to the current state-of-the-art BIM research by drawing insights from the AEC industry in a typical developing country context.

Claim Management and Dispute Resolution in the Construction Industry: Current Research Trends Using Novel Technologies

In the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry claims arise frequently, often resulting in disputes. Claim management should be efficient to prevent claims from escalating into disputes, and if disputes are still unavoidable, they should be resolved without delay for the construction process to resume. First, by conducting a bibliometric review, this paper attempts to investigate the literature on construction claims and dispute resolution practices by employing the Scopus database and VOSviewer to retrieve and analyze related sources. The overall trend of research by country, source, and authors is detected, and the emergence of novel technologies such as BIM, blockchain, and smart contracts appearing after 2020 concerning the investigation into construction claim management and dispute resolution was identified. Second, a content analysis on the most recent publications published between 2020 and 2022 was undertaken, indicating six main research themes that represent current research trends. The employment of novel technologies to enhance claim management and dispute resolution practices in the AEC sector is identified, as well. Finally, in order to assist construction professionals and researchers in their work to address construction claims and disputes more efficiently, potential research directions are proposed.

Research Perspectives on Buildings’ Sustainability after COVID-19: Literature Review and Analysis of Changes

The concept of sustainability introduced in 1987 has characterised the world of research in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) sector, directing it to try to tackle the problems inherent to the impacts of climate change on buildings. In addition, the advent of COVID-19, disrupting the world and people’s habits, has obviously also strongly affected the academic world. Indeed, this paper aims to analyse the changes and differences between the pre- and post-pandemic periods through a two-stage hybrid literature review. First, through a systematic literature review, 90 articles were selected, filtered through different keywords (sustainability, climate, architecture, and buildings). Once the reasoned selection of papers had been made, it was possible to proceed to the second phase, which involved a thematic analysis according to the three classic macro themes of sustainability (Environment, Social, and Economic) and the inclusion of a fourth macro theme (Management and Development), which made it possible to reintroduce a holistic view of the problem. The results of this literature review revealed the presence of a growing interest in the topic analysed and a more homogenous distribution across all continents, with no distinction between developed and developing countries. Economic sustainability interests emerge post-COVID-19 through the deepening of the themes of clean energy and direct control of consumption. At the level of Environmental sustainability, on the other hand, COVID-19 replaced the house at the centre of people’s lives. In addition, the Management and Development macro theme highlighted the need for an integrated view of the problem and the unexpected return of researchers preferring new constructions, which, despite alternative green approaches and renovations, can guarantee better performance.

PixelFrame: A reconfigurable, precast, post-tensioned concrete structural system for a circular building economy

The demand to build for a growing urban population conflicts with the need to reduce the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) sector’s contributions to global CO2 emissions. Structural systems are a key factor in this challenge, as they contribute substantially to a building’s mass and are typically overdesigned. In this paper, we present PixelFrame, a new precast concrete structural system that is algorithmically designed to use less carbon upfront and be reused across multiple lifecycles. We achieve a high reuse potential for structural elements through building load demand analysis, a segmental externally post-tensioned design, and an integrated optimal assignment strategy. In addition to improving reuse potential, a segmental optimization strategy also yields higher efficiency in comparison to traditional prismatic concrete structural elements. The detailing of concrete mixes is informed by a statistical analysis of anticipated building load demands and a custom clustering asymmetric distance function and clustering algorithm. Compared to previous work in this area, our contribution is original in its bidirectional algorithmic approach; both the target building structure and the circular material inventory are computationally generated to achieve versatility while minimizing emissions.

Understanding the effects of service innovation capability on firm performance in AEC industry: mediating role of business model

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine whether service innovation capability can affect firm performance in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) context, and, if so, how.Design/methodology/approachThis study developed a theoretical framework illustrating the performance impacts of service innovation capability through the business model in the AEC sector. An empirical study was conducted to test the hypotheses using 374 valid questionnaires using structure equation model (SEM).FindingsThe results verify that service innovation capability positively influences firm performance mediated by the business model. As to the direct effect, service innovation capability is positively associated with firm performance.Originality/valueThis study highlights how service innovation capability affects performance and reveals the underlying mechanism.

A Multivariate Analysis of the Variables Impacting the Level of BIM Expertise of Professionals in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industries of the Developing World Using Nonparametric Tests

Building information modeling (BIM) mandates are becoming more widespread because BIM allows design and construction teams to operate more productively and also enables them to collect the data they generate during the process for use in operations and maintenance tasks. As a result, professionals in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries are expected to possess excellent BIM expertise. Despite the fact that the developing world has largely not adopted BIM, many studies have been conducted on BIM usage, awareness, drivers and barriers with a focus on the developing world. Numerous studies have pointed to the professionals’ lack of BIM expertise in the developing world’s AEC sector as a major barrier to BIM deployment. Nevertheless, no research has been conducted to assess the variables impacting the level of BIM expertise among professionals. After a detailed review of the literature, the study developed five study hypotheses and created a conceptual model to help assess the variables impacting the level of BIM expertise of professionals in the AEC industry in the developing world. After that, a questionnaire survey was carried out to collect data from 103 seasoned professionals in the Ghanaian construction industry. Nonparametric tests, such as the Kruskal–Wallis, pairwise post hoc Dunn, Mann–Whitney, Pearson’s correlation and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS SEM) tests, were adopted to assess the relationships between the level of BIM expertise of professionals (BE) and the following variables: (1) profession (P), (2) the frequency of BIM use by professionals (BF), (3) the highest dimension of BIM adopted by AEC firms and companies (BD), (4) professionals’ perception of BIM (PB) and (5) the BIM implementation barriers (BIMIBs). P, BF, BD and PB were found to have a substantial impact on the level of BIM expertise acquired by professionals. With regards to professionals’ perception of the BIM software and process, only one (PB3–BIM is not useful to our company at the moment) out of ten of them was found to have a significant impact on BE, highlighting the impact of employers on the level of BIM expertise of professionals. In addition, the study discovered that any resolution made in an attempt to tackle the lack of/insufficient level of BIM expertise among professionals would prove futile without significant effort from the higher education sector (HES) of the developing world and the entire world at large. The study’s conceptual, empirical, managerial and theoretical implications and findings would serve as a roadmap for researchers, professionals and academics in developing nations as they endeavor to seek more ways of increasing BIM expertise among their professionals and to encourage BIM usage throughout the project lifecycle.

Bibliometric analysis, scientometrics and metasynthesis of Internet of Things (IoT) in smart buildings

PurposeThe Internet of Things has made the shift to the digital era possible, even though the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector has not embraced nor integrated it within the core functions compared to other sectors. The need to enhance sustainable construction with the adoption of Internet of Things in this sector cannot be overemphasized. However, the real-world applications of Internet of Things in smart buildings remain relatively unexplored in the AEC sector due to several issues related to deployment and energy-saving potentials. Given these challenges, this paper proposes to identify the present state of development and research in Internet of Things and smart buildings, identify Internet of Things clusters and applications in smart buildings.Design/methodology/approachBibliometric analyses of papers from 2010 to 2023 using the Scopus database and scientometric evaluations using the VosViewer software were undertaken. The proper search keyword was identified by using the phrases “ Internet of Things” and “Smart Building”. A total of 1158 documents in all, written by 3540 different writers, representing 2285 different institutions from 97 different countries were looked at. A metasynthesis was conducted and a system of Internet of Things applications in a smart building is illustrated.FindingsThe development of IoT and Smart Buildings is done in two phases: initiation (2010–2012) and development phase (2013–2023). The IoT clusters comprised Internet of things, energy efficiency, intelligent buildings, smart buildings and automation; while the most commonly used applications were analysed and established. The study also determined the productive journals, documents, authors and countries.Research limitations/implicationsDocuments published in the Scopus database from 2010 to 2023 were considered for the bibliometric analysis. Journal articles, conference papers, reviews, books and book chapters written in English language represent the inclusion criteria, while articles in press, conference reviews, letters, editorials, undefined sources and all medical and health publications were excluded.Practical implicationsThe results of this study will be used by construction stakeholders and policymakers to identify key themes and applications in IoT-enabled smart buildings and to guide future research in the policymaking process of asset management.Originality/valueThe study utilised bibliometric analysis, scientometrics and metasynthesis to investigate Internet of things applications in smart buildings. The study identified Internet of things clusters and applications for smart building design and construction.

Enhancing BIM competencies of built environment undergraduates students using a problem-based learning and network analysis approach

PurposeBuilding information modelling (BIM) is an innovative, collaborative process underpinned by digital technologies introduced to improve project performance in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). Growth in industry demands has necessitated BIM inclusion into the higher education (HE) curricula as both a pedagogic and practical objective to prepare and develop aspiring built environment (BE) professionals with the required competence for contemporary practice. However, comprehension of BIM concepts and subsequent development of the skill set required for its application remains overwhelming for students. In mitigating this challenge, adopting appropriate learner-centred strategies has been advocated. Problem-based learning (PBL) is becoming a widespread strategy to address concerns associated with authentic practices.Design/methodology/approachThis paper evaluates the impact of the PBL strategy on students' accelerated learning of BIM based on a case study of 53 undergraduate students in a BIM module. The network analysis and centrality measures were employed in understudying the most applicable BIM skills.FindingsFrom the analyses, PBL benefits students' knowledge acquisition (cognitive and affective) of BIM concept and development of transferable skills (academic and disciplinary), equipping them with capabilities to become BIM competent and workplace ready for the AEC industry.Originality/valueThe BIM pedagogy evolves, and new skillsets emerge. Analytical, communications and collaboration skills remain sacrosanct to delivering BIM modules. These skills mentioned above are essential in getting undergraduate students ready to apply BIM in the AEC sector.

Engineering Brain: Metaverse for future engineering

The past decade has witnessed a notable transformation in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, with efforts made both in the academia and industry to facilitate improvement of efficiency, safety and sustainability in civil projects. Such advances have greatly contributed to a higher level of automation in the lifecycle management of civil assets within a digitalised environment. To integrate all the achievements delivered so far and further step up their progress, this study proposes a novel theory, Engineering Brain, by effectively adopting the Metaverse concept in the field of civil engineering. Specifically, the evolution of the Metaverse and its key supporting technologies are first reviewed; then, the Engineering Brain theory is presented, including its theoretical background, key components and their inter-connections. Outlooks of this theory’s implementation within the AEC sector are offered, as a description of the Metaverse of future engineering. Through a comparison between the proposed Engineering Brain theory and the Metaverse, their relationships are illustrated; and how Engineering Brain may function as the Metaverse for future engineering is further explored. Providing an innovative insight into the future engineering sector, this study can potentially guide the entire industry towards its new era based on the Metaverse environment.

Enterprise architecture-based ISA model development for ICT benchmarking in construction-case study

<span>Building on a coincided in progress paper, this paper constructs and evaluate an information systems architecture (ISA) model for the Bahraini architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector, from the lens of enterprise architecture (EA). This model acts as an information and communication technology (ICT) barometer tool to identify and benchmark the ICT’s gaps, duplicative levels, and future investments. Following the design science research, this paper and throughout a utilization of a tailored version of the open group architectural framework (TOGAF), embedded into a rigorous case study approach, the construction, testing, and evaluation of the conceptual ISA model is approached to benchmark the ICT measurement. Empirically, the study revealed the appropriateness of the model and the ability to identify the availability of 28 groups of 38 individual ICT applications in the Bahraini AEC sector and benchmark them to score an average of 18.5% against 17 countries that scored an average of 18.6%.</span>

Research focus for construction robotics and human-robot teams towards resilience in construction: scientometric review

PurposeRapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and human–robot teams (HRTs) research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector.Design/methodology/approachA total of 71 peer-reviewed journal articles centred on robotics and HRTs were reviewed through a quantitative approach using scientometric techniques using Gephi and VOSviewer. Research focus deductions were made through bibliometric analysis and co-occurrence analysis of reviewed publications.FindingsThis study revealed sparse and small research output in this area, indicating immense research potential. Existing clusters signifying the need for further studies are on automation in construction, human–robot teaming, safety in robotics and robotic designs. Key publication outlets and construction robotics contribution towards the built environment’s resilience are discussed.Practical implicationsThe identified gaps in the thematic areas illustrate priorities for future research focus. It raises awareness on human factors in collaborative robots and potential design needs for construction resilience.Originality/valueRapid urbanisation and recent shock events have reiterated the need for resilient infrastructure, as seen in the pandemic. Yet, knowledge gaps in construction robotics and HRTs research limit maximising these emerging technologies’ potentials. This paper aims to review the state of the art of research in this area to identify future research directions in HRTs able to aid the resilience and responsiveness of the AEC sector.

Barriers to Implementing the Circular Economy in the Construction Industry: A Critical Review

To facilitate the adoption of the circular economy (CE) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector, some authors have demonstrated the potential of recent designs that take into account the sustainable management of an asset’s end-of-life (EOL), providing an alternative to the dominant designs that end with demolition. However, there is no review of the literature that encompasses a large range of sustainable designs in the current CE context. This paper provides a critical review of journal papers that deal with the barriers to implementing sustainable designs and approaches to the EOL management of assets that have the potential to fulfil the principles of the CE. Eighteen approaches related to prefabrication, design for change, design for deconstruction, reverse logistics, waste management and closed-loop systems were found. Through an analysis of the barriers that are common among these 18 approaches, we classified them into six different categories (organisational, economical, technical, social, political and environmental). Two Sankey diagrams illustrate the interrelation between the barriers, their categories and the 18 approaches. The diagrams clearly show that most of the barriers are common to multiple approaches and that most of the barriers relate to organisational concerns. The study gives a detailed map of the barriers that would help stakeholders from the AEC sector develop strategies to overcome the current obstacles in the shift to a CE.

Mapping private, common, and exclusive common spaces in buildings from BIM/IFC to LADM. A case study from Saudi Arabia

This paper presents in detail the legislation and regulation related to the use and ownership of building complexes with multiple units (apartments, condominiums) in Saudi Arabia for the 3D registration of the legal spaces. The 3D Land Administration Domain Model (LADM)country profile for Saudi Arabia must be able to represent the identified concepts for multi-owner buildings. Today, there is a trend to directly design these buildings in 3D. Within the spatial development lifecycle thinking, this design will be reused via Building Information Modelling (BIM)/ Industry Foundation Class (IFC) encodings in the subsequent phases, such as, obtaining permits, financing, constructing, etc. However, in order to support the next step, the cadastral registration, we present, at this paper, a mapping from the BIM/IFC to the LADM, both at conceptual modelling and at the level of the individual units with their geometry and topology. This mapping requires that the BIM/IFC file contains sufficient information to identify the different spaces being part of a property. Three different main type of spaces are identified: private part, common part, and exclusive common part. A single property may contain multiple disconnected components, such as the main apartment, the storage in the basement, and a car park. In turn, a component, such as the main apartment, may contain multiple connected spaces, i.e. the various rooms of the main apartment. In addition to mapping the concepts at class level from IFC to LADM, we also extract rules for treating the spaces of various types of walls, slabs, roofs, and constructive elements, such as foundation and pillars. The presented approach is tested with a real-world example IFC file, identifying the issues to be improved, i.e. guidelines for the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector to produce IFC file which can be more easy used as input for 3D Land Administration with minimal manual interventions. This research bridges the gap between the project-oriented world of the AEC sector (with BIM/IFC files) and the legal registration as described through the ISO 19152. Though many of the presented findings are based on the legislation and case study in Saudi Arabia, we have the rather strong impression, that these findings will not be very different in other countries.

Scientometric analysis of BIM adoption by SMEs in the architecture, construction and engineering sector

PurposeBuilding information modelling (BIM) has had a significant impact on the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector in the past several years. However, not much is published concerning small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) adopting BIM in the construction industry. To address this knowledge gap, a complete and in-depth literature review of the adoption of BIM by SMEs in the AEC sector is conducted in this study. The paper also provides a comprehensive review of the mainstream studies of adoption of BIM in the AEC organisations.Design/methodology/approachBased on a five-stage literature review, 54 articles on the adoption of BIM by SMEs from the period 2009 to 2019 were critically analysed from the following three perspectives: (1) the number of articles produced; (2) the research focus and (3) the author's contributions. The techniques of the visualisation of similarities (VOSviewer) software were used to analyse the citation networks of the 54 articles as identified.FindingsFrom the analysis, it was established that the number of studies on BIM adoption by SMEs in the reviewed journals has not been increasing and not many articles are available. The finding makes the argument that BIM adoption by SMEs is not a focus point but rather the adoption and implementation of BIM is generalised in the AEC sector. In addition, the results revealed that most of the published articles come from the United Kingdom (UK). However, this finding is hardly surprising due to the requirements in the UK, which have made the adoption of BIM mandatory on all publicly funded projects and are at level 2 BIM. The other highly ranked countries by origins of studies on the adoption of BIM by SMEs were found to be Australia and the United States of America (USA), all of which are developed nations or economies. Some key BIM in SME research trends (adoption, enforcement, benefits, strategies, skills gap, awareness, education and training, and technology) were identified and evaluated.Research limitations/implicationsThe results presented in this journal are only applicable to SMEs in the AEC sector. As a result of little available literature on the adoption of BIM in developing countries, the articles have been drawn from developed countries. The dataset was mainly extracted from the Scopus database for the analysis.Originality/valueAn accomplished series content analysis of the implementation and adoption of BIM by SMEs from international construction journals were reported. The study makes significant and emergent contribution by building on the foundation of BIM research in SMEs as well as providing a reference point for the interpretation of findings, as well as directions for future research.

Strategic determinants of big data analytics in the AEC sector: a multi-perspective framework

With constant flow of large data sets generated by different organisations, big data analytics promises to be a revolutionary game changer for Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Despite the potential of Big Data, there has been little research conducted thus far to understand the Big Data phenomenon, specifically in the AEC industry. The objective of this research therefore is to understand the contributing factors for adopting big data in AEC firms. The investigation combined the perceived strategic value of BDA with the TOE framework (technology, organization, and environment), to develop and test a holistic model on big data adoption. A set of hypotheses derived from the extant literature was tested on data from structured surveys of about 365 firms, categorised as construction service firms (engineering and architecture) and construction firms (firms engaged in managing construction projects). The results indicated that the inhibitors and facilitators of BDA adoption are different in the construction services (architecture and engineering) and construction firms. For effective adoption of BDA solutions, the findings will guide the business managers to have realistic expectations of BDA integration challenges in AEC sector.

Briefing: Industry 4.0 in construction: radical transformation or restricted agenda?

The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is poised to transform the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector from a project-based industry to a market-based industrialised process. Yet, its (s)low uptake can be attributed to the current emphasis on technological adoption. In this briefing note, it is argued that ignoring non-technical aspects such as the social will to change and ethical choices can result in Industry 4.0 failing to deliver its transformative power in the AEC sector. Rather than focus on technology, questions are raised around systemic change by considering people and process issues. Furthermore, instead of focussing on the calculative value of Industry 4.0, there is also a need to consider (ethical) values when making decisions in the data-driven world of Industry 4.0.

Lean Labour in AEC Industry: From Theory to Implementation

The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, in India is flourishing due to urbanization, industrialization and modernization. The orthodox concept of construction was design-bid builds method or Integrated Project Development methods have been replaced by “lean construction” concept. The lean concept adaptation in AEC is contemporary to the socialistic working tool of the Anthropocene epoch during mid of 20th century. The studies on lean concept is highly relevant in the present social and ecological prospective which promote environmental sustainability, labour manager coordination and collaboration. The lean concept can enhance production and productivity in construction industry through effective implementation of lean labour management. The concept emphasizes on coordination, collaboration, team spirit with humane approach to labour management. The concept results in lowering cost , reduction and elimination of wastage, higher level of motivation , retention of workforce , innovation and implementation of result oriented management practices and achieving customer’s delight. The Takt time and last planners system is to be introduced with lean labour. The construction works on its flow processes require the value stream such as 6M’s (Men, Material, Machines, Methods, Mother Nature (environment) and Measurement), working under 5T’s principle (transparency, teamwork, technology, time, which shall lead to transformations) to be implemented within the AEC sector from grass root to top.

A BIM-based approach for DfMA in building construction: framework and first results on an Italian case study

ABSTRACT This research presents a framework to integrate Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach in the Italian Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) context, based on Building Information Modelling (BIM). DfMA applications in UK and Singapore are presented and a structured process is proposed and adapted to the Italian market. Two adopted frameworks are presented: the RIBA Plan of Work 2013 (adapted for DfMA) and the Building and Construction Authority of Singapore BIM for DfMA. Both have been used to link DfMA downstream activities (procurement, fabrication, transport and installation) to upstream activities (brief, option appraisal and concept design), reaching comparisons and integrations of these processes with traditional design process adopted in Italy for public developments. A revised DfMA workflow for Italian AEC sector is developed. A case study (a kindergarten in Italy) is analysed in its DfMA peculiarities and used to test the proposed flow of information requirements and to identify shortfalls or improvements in the current processes. The proposed framework is integrated and compared with the existing design process acknowledged by the Italian Government for public buildings. The results confirmed the need for precisely structured procedures in delivering an off-site-oriented project. The framework presented guided the production, collection and organisation of data at each stage to integrate DfMA solutions into the project, while the proposed process confirmed its applicability. This research opens to scenarios of gradual implementation of DfMA-related processes, including different building sub-systems to enhance the framework and process content with additional lessons learnt.

BIM adoption and implementation: focusing on SMEs

Purpose To reach its full potential, Building Information Modelling (BIM) should be implemented throughout the supply chain. The purpose of this study is to explore BIM implementation and adoption among Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector. The paper addresses two key issues: the slow rate and lack of homogeneity of BIM adoption in the SME sector. Design/methodology/approach The study uses qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate BIM uptake and test for correlations between organisational features and BIM aspects. The sample includes data from SMEs based in the South East of England, which are then analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings The results show that, although SMEs have some understanding of BIM-related concepts, their familiarity with existing BIM software support systems is particularly low. Limited financial capacity is identified as the primary barrier to BIM adoption while knowledge exchange initiatives are the most useful measure in facilitating further implementation. The variations of SMEs in the adoption and implementation of BIM are mostly affected by company size, professional discipline and offered services. The paper also demonstrates that a one-size-fits-all approach to BIM implementation in the AEC sector has limited potential. Originality/value The heterogeneity of SMEs in the AEC sector has been considered to a very limited extent. This paper considers the nature, characteristics and core business areas of SMEs as factors affecting BIM adoption and implementation.

Challenges and Enablers in BIM-Enabled Digital Transformation in Mega Projects: The Istanbul New Airport Project Case Study

The Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector has been working on an increasing number of mega projects having large scale investments worldwide. The majority of these mega projects are infrastructure projects that are comparatively more difficult to manage in terms of yielding an expected return of investments while increasing quality and productivity. Today’s construction technology landscape offers a wide variety of innovative digital solutions for optimizing the project constraints of scope, time, cost, quality, and resources. Despite being one of the least digitized sectors, the AEC sector is currently ripe for adopting innovative digital solutions. It is observed that Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been rapidly adopted to tackle the ever-evolving challenges of mega infrastructure projects. This study investigates the challenges and enablers of utilizing an end-to-end BIM strategy for digital transformation of mega project delivery processes through a mega airport project case study, in order to contribute a solid strategic understanding in BIM implementation for mega infrastructure projects. The case study is followed with two-phased semi-structured interviews. Based on the findings, major challenges are sustaining continuous monitoring and controlling in the project execution, engineering complexity and aligning stakeholders’ BIM learning curves whereas strategic control mechanisms, incentivizing the virtual collaborative environment, and continuous digital delivery are major enablers.