Building Information Modelling Capabilities Research Articles

Evaluation of Instructor Capability: Perspective from Building Information Modeling Competition Students in Mainland China

Building information modelling (BIM) technology, which has experienced rapid development, has become the focus of digital education learning in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) related disciplines. However, BIM education is still confronted with the disconnection between theoretical education and engineering practice. In mainland China, BIM competitions are an important digital platform for higher education practice teaching. As the organizer and leader of student participants, BIM instructors, especially their BIM capability, have an important impact on digital education. Previous research on BIM capability did not involve the field of BIM education, and the existing BIM capability framework is not entirely applicable to evaluating the BIM capability of instructors. Semi-structured interviews based on grounded theory (GT) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to construct a five-dimensional model containing 23 capability indicators. The research findings highlighted the multi-dimensional nature of BIM capability for instructors and indicated that personnel capability was the most important for instructors, while process capability was considered the most dispensable. This is significantly different from the emphasis on technical and process capability in BIM capability research in the traditional AEC industry. It was also found that students from different levels of universities and different educational backgrounds had different demands for the BIM capability of instructors. The results of this study will help universities select excellent instructors, improve the quality of BIM education in universities, and cultivate more outstanding BIM talents for the development of BIM in the AEC industry, thereby promoting the digital practice of BIM education in universities.

BIM capability assessment for improving the efficiency of design in railway projects

The construction industry is increasingly adopting Building Information Modelling (BIM) due to its benefits, including early collaboration, error reduction, and improved quality. This study systematically assesses BIM capabilities in the design processes of railway projects managed by Network Rail (NR), a national authority in the UK, and Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality (GMM), a local authority in Turkey. Using a tailored BIM capability assessment tool, the study evaluates the performance of BIM attributes across architectural, structural, and building services design. The findings indicate that NR achieved Integrated BIM (Level 2) across all design disciplines driven by enhanced BIM uses such as code and compliance checking and phase and 4D planning. In contrast, GMM achieved Performed BIM (Level 1), particularly in structural design where BIM is applied selectively for tasks like design authoring and 3D coordination. The difference in scale leads to varying BIM implementations, with NR benefiting from a standardised approach supported by national-level mandates and resources. The study highlights that smaller authorities like GMM can improve BIM practices by adopting national-level strategies. Furthermore, organisations in countries with mandatory BIM requirements show more advanced BIM applications, such as integrating BIM with GIS for clash detection and improved coordination.

AI-Driven BIM Integration for Optimizing Healthcare Facility Design

Efficient healthcare facility design is crucial for providing high-quality healthcare services. This study introduces an innovative approach that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, specifically particle swarm optimization (PSO), with building information modeling (BIM) and digital twin technologies to enhance facility layout optimization. The methodology seamlessly integrates AI-driven layout optimization with the robust visualization, analysis, and real-time capabilities of BIM and digital twins. Through the convergence of AI algorithms, BIM, and digital twins, this framework empowers stakeholders to establish a virtual environment for the streamlined exploration and evaluation of diverse design options, significantly reducing the time and manual effort required for layout design. The PSO algorithm generates optimized 2D layouts, which are seamlessly transformed into 3D BIM models through visual programming in Dynamo. This transition enables stakeholders to visualize, analyze, and monitor designs comprehensively, facilitating well-informed decision-making and collaborative discussions. The study presents a comprehensive methodology that underscores the potential of AI, BIM, and digital twin integration, offering a path toward more efficient and effective facility design.

A PMBOK-based construction cost management framework for BIM integration in construction projects

Cost overruns persist as a critical issue in construction projects. This study aims to explore how the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) can enhance project cost management processes aligned with the PMBOK framework, fostering improved construction cost control and management as well as decision-making. The study investigates the applicability of PMBoK cost management procedures within the context of BIM software and its various applications. A comprehensive BIM-cantered cost management framework is introduced to operationalize this synergy, encompassing planning, estimation, budgeting, monitoring, and control stages. This framework’s efficacy is validated through its application to an industrial facility, leveraging integrated BIM, scheduling, and cost tools. The findings revealed BIM’s benefits in visualization, clash detection, automated take-off, and 5D simulation, influencing informed decision-making during the project. However, these advantages coexist with certain limitations, including challenges in establishing bi-directional quantity-cost linkages, generating customizable reports, conducting risk-centric budgeting, and conducting in-depth subcontractor analyses. This research puts forth an applied BIM framework tailored to construction cost management and provides practical insights to guide adoption strategies and technology advancement needs. The study can assist industry practitioners and policymakers in re-evaluating cost management strategies concerning BIM capabilities.

BIM to BREEAM: A workflow for automated daylighting assessment of existing buildings

By conducting an assessment of the existing building stock from the perspective of the Green Building Certification System (GBCS), it is possible to contribute to the improvement of energy utilization and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions as promoted through the Renovation Wave strategy by the European Union. These aspirations will simultaneously contribute to enhancing human well-being, indoor environmental quality, and comfort. This paper describes a novel methodology for enhancing the renovation of existing buildings at the design stage using automation within the Building Information Modeling (BIM) environment. By parameterizing the requirements of GBCS using a visual programming tool, real-time insight into the number of achieved certain issue credits in the certification process is enabled. It was also created to enable designers in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector to continuously monitor the development of design and make modifications as early as possible in the design process. Thus, cost overruns in design projects, as well as later renovations and building maintenance, are prevented. This research has utilized the capability of BIM to perform rapid compliance simulations with Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) requirements without the need for manual calculations and/or computer simulations in other software, which would increase the time required for analysis due to additional modeling requirements. The methodology is demonstrated using the automation of the Daylighting section of the issue Hea01 Visual Comfort from the Technical Manual SD225 1.4 − BREEAM International Non-Domestic Refurbishment 2015, and the validation was performed on a BIM model of an existing building belonging to the educational sector. The application of the described methodology in the case study reduced the time required for assessing the number of achieved daylighting credits by 40%, with potential savings extending up to 80% depending on the chosen criteria for analysis. The tool is designed to be applicable to other GBCS, building types, and newly designed buildings as well.

A New Risk Response Strategy Using Association Rule Mining and Building Information Modeling Capabilities

A New Risk Response Strategy Using Association Rule Mining and Building Information Modeling Capabilities

Using Building Information Modeling to Enhance Supply Chain Resilience in Prefabricated Buildings: A Conceptual Framework

Prefabricated buildings usually involve various project participants and complicated processes of design, manufacturing, transport, assembly, and construction, which means they constantly face supply chain disruptions. As a tool to realize information integration and facilitate communication among project participants in the supply chain, building information modeling (BIM) is widely recognized as an important technology to foster supply chain resilience. However, it is unclear how BIM can facilitate supply chain resilience in prefabricated buildings. This study aims to construct a conceptual framework to better understand the influencing paths of BIM on supply chain resilience in the context of prefabricated buildings. It employs an integrative review method to identify key factors influencing the resilience of the prefabricated building supply chain and explore the effects of BIM on these factors. The role of BIM in linking these factors was verified through an empirical case. The results show that BIM resources and capabilities can enhance supply chain resilience by influencing participant factors (assembly construction capability, design capability) and partnership factors (information sharing, cooperation, coordination, and trust). This study incorporates supply chain resilience and BIM technology into a conceptual framework in the context of prefabricated buildings, providing new theoretical insights for future supply chain management.

Adopting BIM to Enhance Sustainability. The Saudi Arabia Construction Projects case study

Building information modelling (BIM) has become an efficient tool to contribute more effectively to achieving sustainability development goals. BIM utilities have progressively revealed efficient environments to share data amongst stakeholders. The present paper aims to evaluate levels of awareness around BIM capabilities amongst engineers and project managers, focusing on the Saudi Arabia construction industry. The study targeted individuals registered with the Saudi Council of Engineers until the year 2020, who were invited to engage with a questionnaire survey. The study targeted individuals registered with the Saudi Council of Engineers, who were invited to engage with a questionnaire survey. A sample of 940 participants was taken by the survey out of a total population of the study of 55776 engineers whose responses materialised in a robust statistical analysis. According to the survey, 61% (circa 572) have developed awareness of BIM, whereas 39% (368) confirmed that they had never heard of it. A descriptive Statistics framework with the aid of SPSS has been developed to complete the statistical study. Analyses of data indicated that the benefit of using BIM is significant in the broad sustainability realm, Life Cycle Cost (LCC), operations and maintenance, efficient use of energy, daylight analysis, thermal design, and transparency in cost.

Optimized decision support for BIM maturity assessment

Building information modeling (BIM) maturity models occupy a crucial role in guiding BIM-reliant stakeholders and enterprises to identify BIM capabilities and facilitate process improvements. Nevertheless, few quantitative BIM maturity models are available for the measurement and improvement of BIM utilization performance. This study designs a refined assessment system for the maturity measurement of BIM-based projects during the design and construction stages. The advocated BIM maturity model combines a probability distribution function aggregation paradigm and a large-scale group decision-making framework to provide an expert-based assessment system for evaluating project-based BIM performance. The case study of the Corning Gen 10.5 glass substrate production line workshop in Wuhan demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed model. This paper establishes a generalizable structural framework that can potentially facilitate BIM maturity analysis in a portfolio of projects or the industry as a whole and will generate fresh insight into designing quantitative BIM maturity models across various contexts.

BIM–GIS Integrated Utilization in Urban Disaster Management: The Contributions, Challenges, and Future Directions

In the 21st Century, disasters have severe negative impacts on cities worldwide. Given the significant casualties and property damage caused by disasters, it is necessary for disaster management organizations and the public to enhance urban disaster management. As an effective method, BIM (Building Information Modeling)–GIS (Geographic Information System) integration can significantly improve urban disaster management. Despite the significance of BIM–GIS integration, there is rarely the adoption of BIM–GIS integration in urban disaster management, which significantly hinders the development of the quality and efficiency of urban disaster management. To enhance urban disaster management and reduce the negative impact caused by disasters, this study is developed to perform a systematic review of the utilization of BIM–GIS integration in urban disaster management. Through the systematic review, the capabilities of BIM–GIS integration in disaster prevention and mitigation, disaster response, and post-disaster recovery are reviewed and analyzed. Moreover, the data acquisition approaches, interoperability, data utilization and analysis methods, and future directions of BIM–GIS integrated utilization in the disaster management process are also discussed and analyzed. Through this study, the public and urban disaster managers can effectively familiarize themselves with and utilize the capabilities of BIM–GIS integration in urban disaster management, thereby improving the urban disaster management efficiency and the survival rate of disaster victims worldwide. For BIM and GIS software developers, this study can support them to familiarize themselves with the methods and trends of BIM–GIS integrated utilization in urban disaster management and thus optimize the development of software for BIM and GIS.

An interactive design change methodology using a BIM-based Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Changes in design and construction constitute variations from the original design prepared by a design team and are inevitable. Despite the fact that rework has been identified as having adverse effects on performance, there have been limited studies on how to mitigate rework in design changes. Despite improving change management, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is insufficient in mitigating rework. However, the convergence of the capabilities of BIM, Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR) are integrated solutions to reduce the impact of rework in design change. In this research, we improve the requirements for reworking design changes, which include redesign, information flow, and delivery for users with no experience with BIM. For interactive design change with BIM in VR and AR, the proposed methodology integrates BIM, as-built data from web sources, and VR and AR functions using game engines and programming. In VR and AR, BIM objects are used to create multiple variants that are matched with BIM databases that provide options for design changes. The interactive design change platform is validated in a VR and AR environment and presented multiple design change options for wall elements based on a set required change factor of a building project. This paper highlights the need for a change platform that reduces the rework of design changes in BIM through VR and AR in three main areas redesign, maintaining the flow of information and delivery of solutions for design changes. The VR and AR proposed solution to design change improves rework collaboration and communication among stakeholders of a building project.

BIM-Based Timber Formwork Design and Modeling

Building information modeling (BIM) is one of the most promising new technological developments that can be used to facilitate design and construction automation. Prior BIM research has primarily focused on permanent building components; temporary structures such as scaffolding and concrete formwork have received little attention. The design and planning of concrete formwork systems, however, would substantially benefit from the capabilities of BIM. Formwork design is repetitive and can be very time-consuming due to the need to analyze multiple parameters of individual permanent components, the latest formwork design guidelines, methods, and procedures, and the available materials. In this study, a BIM-based tool is developed and proposed to assist designers and builders in planning, designing, and generating concrete formwork design models for planning purposes. By integrating the design procedures recommended by the American Concrete Institute (ACI), the streamlining tool automates the design and modeling process for timber concrete formwork through an application programming interface (API) in Revit. The workability of the proposed tool was demonstrated through a case study. The study also employed the survey method to investigate the effectiveness of the proposed tool and its potential for improving worker safety and health from the perspectives of formwork professionals. Using the tool, form designers and planners will be able to determine the most applicable formwork design based on the permanent facility structure along with the availability of construction materials, site conditions present, and worker safety and health considerations. The study also provides contractors with a new tool for planning concrete operations and expands the scope of BIM design.

BIM-CAREM: Assessing the BIM capabilities of design, construction and facilities management processes in the construction industry

BIM adoption has accelerated worldwide since it is an important enabling technology for digitalisation in the construction industry. Adopting BIM requires transforming the traditional building life cycle stages (planning, design, construction and facilities management) into BIM-integrated project deliveries. Assessing the BIM capabilities of these stages helps organisations to identify gaps in their BIM uses and improve them. There is a lack of a comprehensive model in the literature for assessing the BIM capabilities of individual building life cycle stages and their processes. Existing assessment models focus on assessing the BIM maturity of construction projects and organisations which do not inform the required BIM improvements for individual stages and their processes. Hence, we iteratively developed the Building Information Modelling (BIM) Capability Assessment REference Model (BIM-CAREM) and demonstrated its usability through multiple explanatory case studies performed with two international design and engineering companies and two general contractors in Turkey. We assessed the BIM capabilities of design, construction and facility management processes of various buildings i.e. residential, stadiums, hospitals and airports. The results showed that the BIM capability levels of design, construction and facility management processes vary within and across the companies.

Underlying Factors and Strategies for Organizational BIM Capabilities: The Case of Iran

Building information modeling (BIM) has a significant role in the architecture, engineering, construction, and operation (AECO) industries. Most BIM benefits have not been grasped due to the lack of organizational BIM capabilities (OBIMCs). Accordingly, organizations must develop intuitive strategies to support BIM implementation and to fulfill the promised benefits. This study investigates the impact of different capability factors on OBIMC and the underlying strategies to improve OBIMC in Iran. Particularly, this study builds a structural equation model to explain the links between the capability factors and strategies linked to OBIMC in Iran. A systematic literature review of twenty-six papers and semi-structured interviews with fifteen BIM specialists identified nineteen capability factors and fourteen strategies. A survey of 126 BIM professionals was used to assess the importance of the capability factors and strategies. To analyze the collected data, first, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed. Then, Partial Least-Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed. The EFA generated two constructs for the capability factors: OBIMC and organizational capabilities (OCA). Furthermore, it categorized the strategies into two constructs: BIM capability requirement (BIMCR) and organizational culture (OCU). The structural equation model demonstrates that BIMCR and OCU enhance OCA and OBIMC. These two elements are also positively impacted by BIMCR. Industry professionals and policymakers can use these findings to develop strategic plans and to prioritize efforts. The significant contribution of this study is to illuminate the interrelationship between capability factors and strategies related to OBIMC in Iran.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) Capabilities in the Design and Planning of Rural Settlements in China: A Systematic Review

With rural revitalization being established as the national policy in China, the environmental quality and residential comfort of rural settlements has received widespread attention from the whole society in China. However, due to the over-exploitation of resources and the uneven development between urban and rural in China, the environmental conditions and residential experience in rural settlements in China are still relatively backward. To prompt the environmental quality and residential comfort of rural settlements in China, it is necessary to optimize the planning and design of rural settlements in China. As a multi-function method, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can significantly contribute to the planning and design of rural settlements in China. To optimize the environmental quality and residential experience in rural settlements in China, this study is developed to perform a systematic literature review of the BIM capabilities in the design and planning phase of rural settlements in China. To achieve this aim, the PRISMA protocol was used to perform this systematic review. The review and discussion of this study were conducted between June 2022 and September 2022. In this study, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were adopted as the main databases, and 189 articles were reviewed. Through this systematic review, it can be identified that BIM capabilities have significant advantages in the following aspects of the design and planning of rural settlements in China: Data storage and management; 3D modeling and visualization; Disaster prevention and environmental analysis; Cost estimation and optimization. Furthermore, through the discussion and analysis of research results, it can be concluded that BIM capabilities can perform their benefits in the rural settlements’ design and planning through their following characteristics: knowledge management, simulation, and modeling. Based on the research results, it can be identified that knowledge management capabilities in BIM can effectively provide information support and knowledge assistance throughout the design and planning phase of rural settlements in China. BIM’s simulation and modeling capabilities can simulate and demonstrate the rural environment and their internal structures in rural settlements’ design and planning phase to achieve their environmental optimization, residential comfort improvement, clash detection, disaster prevention, and expenditure reduction. Moreover, the challenge and future directions of BIM capabilities in the design and planning phase of rural settlements in China are discussed and analyzed. This study can effectively promote and optimize the BIM utilization in the design and planning phase of rural settlements in China, to better enhance their environmental quality and residential experience.

8D BIM Model in Urban Rehabilitation Projects: Enhanced Occupational Safety for Temporary Construction Works

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a relevant booster to the modernization of construction. The adoption of digital technologies positively contributes to more agile and integrated processes in all phases of the building life-cycle, namely with regard to project management activities. The implementation of BIM has been predominant in new building projects, but the current market cycle of the rehabilitation or refurbishing of existing buildings offers new opportunities of application to be explored. This paper explores such opportunities, namely with regard to the temporary construction works involved in urban rehabilitation projects with the preservation of the façades of the original buildings. It specifically addresses the impacts of the modeling efforts of steel frames and structures needed to temporarily support façades, after the demolition of the old buildings, and until the original façade is reintegrated into the structural elements of the new building. In a BIM context, an 8D model is created to explore BIM capabilities in enabling more efficient occupation safety and health coordination and management activities in building rehabilitation projects, namely in improving and validating the demolitions and construction methods and sequencing, the scheduling of construction works, and the mandatory occupational risk prevention documents for the construction site. The development of the research was supported on the use of the available BIM software: Revit, to model the façade and the temporary steel structural system; Microsoft Project, to schedule the construction works; Navisworks, to perform clash detection analyses and enable visual simulations for occupational risk, and its identification and mitigation. The study intends to contribute to the dissemination of BIM capabilities to improve occupation safety and health in construction, namely in rehabilitation projects involving temporary structures while contributing with innovative perspectives toward higher maturity in BIM implementation and use in the construction sector.

A FRAMEWORK TO INTEGRATE BIM WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING-BASED PROPERTY VALUATION METHODS

Abstract. Property valuation is of extreme importance since variations in the real estate market enormously influence people’s life. The main goal of Automated Valuation Models (AVMs) is to calculate the market value of a large number of properties with an acceptable accuracy. The Hedonic Price Model (HPM) is the most widely used AVM for the valuation purposes. Despite its simplicity, ease of use and straightforwardness, HPM lacks the capability to address the non-linear relationships between different value-related factors. Hence, researchers have developed other state-of-the-art property valuation methods based on the advancements in computer science including Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), computer vision and deep learning. Design, development, and validation of such advanced AVMs require establishment of a database including data on the different influential factors. Two types of factors are used in the literature, including textual and visual features. Reliable data sources are required for the implementation of AVMs since the accuracy of the provided valuations is definitely linked to the reliability of the used real estate databases. Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides precise information on different components of properties. Although some scholars have tried to use BIM for property valuation, BIM benefits in different valuation procedures have not been fully investigated. Hence, this paper provides a framework that consider BIM capabilities to be integrated with different stages and processes in property valuation, especially in relation to advanced AVMs based on AI and ML.

BIM Capabilities towards Better Safety Climate in the Malaysian Construction Industry

The Malaysian construction industry are dealing with numerous cases of permanent injuries and death of workers in construction sites. This has caused lack of productivity and also losses of human resources. The urging working condition aiming for on time completion has led to unsafe working behaviour due to the top management pressure. This is where Building Information Modelling (BIM) came into view to increase the safety on site environment and through design phase by using technology to overcome human inconsistency behaviour. However, the lack of BIM implementation in Malaysia also causes even lesser implementation of BIM in safety of construction. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the BIM capabilities towards better safety climate in the Malaysian construction industry. A qualitative approach was used through semi-structured interviews and discussion with selected representatives from both private and government sectors. All the interviewed data were then analysed using content analysis technique which correlated the findings with the literature review to support the findings. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that (1) Visualisation for Safety, and (2) Simulation for Safety are the most potential BIM capabilities to be implemented in the construction industry for improving safety climate by using BIM technology. Significantly, the study provides insights towards outlining potential BIM capabilities on policy or Safety Rules and Procedure implementation by the government authority or organizations’ top management.

Creation of a Mock-up Bridge Digital Twin by Fusing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Data into Bridge Information Model (BrIM)

Passage of overweighted commercial vehicles is one of the significant causes of damage to the pavement and structural components of bridges. Weigh-in-motion (WIM) systems can currently detect real-time traffic data; however, these data are stored in standalone databases. Building information modeling (BIM) has transformed the construction industry by injecting “information” into the building model and integrating different databases. BIM capabilities for bilateral exchange of data led to the inception of digital twin. This research investigates the feasibility of developing a digital twin of a mock-up bridge by integrating WIM data into a bridge information model (BrIM). The system was validated by first creating a mock-up bridge with affixed weight sensors attached to microcomputers and then developing a BrIM model and passing scaled vehicles over in real time with varying weight capacities. This study showed the feasibility of creating digital twins, ultimately enabling future research.

Green Building Construction: A Systematic Review of BIM Utilization

As a multi-function method, Building Information Modeling (BIM) can assist construction organizations in improving their project’s quality, optimize collaboration efficiency, and reduce construction periods and expenditure. Given the distinguished contributions of BIM utilization, there is a trend that BIM has significant potential to be utilized in the construction phase of green buildings. Compared with traditional buildings, green buildings have more stringent requirements, including environmental protection, saving energy, and residents’ comfort. Although BIM is deemed an effective method to achieve the abovementioned requirements in the construction process of green buildings, there are few systematic reviews that explore the capabilities of BIM in the construction phase of green buildings. This has hindered the utilization of BIM in the construction of green buildings. To bridge this research gap and review the latest BIM capabilities, this study was developed to perform a systematic review of the BIM capabilities in the construction phase of green buildings. In this systematic review, the PRISMA protocol has been used as the primary procedure for article screening and review. The entire systematic review was performed from January 2022 to April 2022. In this process, 165 articles were included, reviewed, and discussed. Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were adopted as the databases. Through this systematic review, it can be identified that BIM capabilities have significant advantages in project quality improvement, lifecycle data storage and management, collaboration optimization, planning, and schedule management optimization in the construction phase of green buildings. Through the discussion, it can be concluded that BIM utilization can be adopted from the pre-construction phase to the post-construction stage in the green building construction process. Besides these, the barriers to BIM utilization in the green building construction phase are also revealed in the discussion section, including the non-uniform data format, insufficient interactivity, ambiguous ownership, insufficient BIM training, and hesitation toward BIM adoption. Moreover, the challenges and future directions of BIM utilization in green building construction are identified. The findings of this study can facilitate construction personnel to be acquainted with BIM capabilities in the construction of green buildings to promote the utilization and optimization of BIM capabilities in the green building construction process.