Building Information Modelling Level Research Articles

Human Resource Management Digitalisation in Multidisciplinary Ship Design Companies

Abstract The digitalisation in the ship design sector is currently applied to the design process itself and is well defined, partially standardised and practically implemented by both independent design companies and the design departments of shipyards. The situation is similar in other sectors of engineering. However, the requirements for the digitalisation of other processes in design and engineering companies have not previously been studied, and the limited financial resources of ship design companies mean that there is a need for research on the digitalisation needs of multidisciplinary ship design companies. The implementation of building information modelling (BIM) solutions is costly for design companies and generates benefits mainly for shipyards and shipowners. The lack of benefits for design companies leads to the hesitation of managers whenever digitalisation is considered; the scope and scale of the digitalisation, as well as the selected software and BIM level, are defined by the shipyard requirements. The participation and support of management in the digitalisation process is one of the key success factors; the expected benefits caused by digitalisation for the organisation will increase the motivation of managers to invest limited resources in digitalisation. There are no data that indicate the processes with a high potential for digitalisation and the scale of expected improvements in ship design companies; therefore, research in this area was performed with a group of project managers from design and engineering companies. The research focused on collecting the opinions and experiences of the managers related to the manual management of resources and comparing the poll results with the conclusions from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system data analyses. The paper analyses if the digital automation of the resource management process can lead to the substantial improvement of the operations of multi-project, multidisciplinary engineering ship design companies.

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING MATURITY LEVEL: A LITERATURE REVIEW

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry has undergone a profound transition and achieved significant progress in embracing technological improvements and transforming the current system. Building information modeling (BIM) is one of the leading forces behind Construction 4.0. The adoption of BIM in the UAE AEC industry has gained significant attention in recent years, with major projects increasingly using BIM due to directives from the Dubai Municipality and Abu Dhabi Municipality. Yet, the effective implementation of fully integrated BIM requires meeting specific criteria and has proven to be a challenge in the sector context. This study analyzes the existing BIM maturity models that could be applied within the UAE AEC industry. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the current BIM maturity model, challenges, and barriers. It was followed by analyzing the selected international BIM maturity models to identify the gap. The main finding showed that the main obstacles to the effective implementation of BIM in the UAE AEC industry identified through the literature review were the need for a clear and comprehensive legal framework and a maturity model, more standardization, and the need for trained professionals. However, despite all the initiatives undertaken by the Emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi to support digital transformation in the AEC sector, implementation remains to be confined to BIM Level 2 in the case of Dubai and BIM Level 3 in the case of Abu Dhabi infrastructure projects.

A Study of Prospective Barriers, Benefits and Measures for Building Information Modeling (BIM) Adoption in Nepalese AEC Industry

The construction industry needs modern construction methodology and technology to improve sustainability and production performance. Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology supports improving the quality of products by reducing design and construction defects, risks to the health and safety of workers, and reduce overall project cost and delivery time. The BIM has capabilities, but it is still undiscovered and unable to exploit the full scale of its benefits in the Architectural Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. There is a trend to adopt the BIM level 1, which is limited to 2D and only in a few cases 3D models uses in the design and construction of residential and commercial buildings, particularly in Nepal. Hence, this paper focuses on providing insight into the BIM benefits and identifies the potential barriers while adopting BIM Level 3 in Nepal. This was accomplished by developing a 4DBIM model of a multi-story residential building in Nepal and conducting the industry survey via focus group with the AEC professionals based on the developed 4DBIM model. A comprehensive literature review was conducted and presented the findings of the BIM benefits and barriers while adopting BIM. The study found that commercial and governmental projects can immediately be adopted BIM technology. It is concluded that the unavailability of skilled BIM users and the lack of proper policies for BIM adoption are key barriers in Nepal. Hence, the new policy is required to achieve and exploit the full scale of the BIM benefits and improve the project delivery in terms of quality, cost and time including the health and safety of workers and the sustainability of the AEC industry.

Rethinking digital construction: a study of BIM uptake capability in BIM infant construction industries

PurposePractitioners have reported a minimal and non-use of building information modelling (BIM), especially in small and medium-sized organisations and BIM infant construction industries. This development calls for a reappraisal of organisations’ strength in capabilities required for BIM uptake towards the target of global construction digitalisation. This study aims to assess the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of organisations in a BIM infant construction industry and identify the underlying interactions between the capability criteria.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a multivariable analysis of fifteen descriptors identified from the people, process, policy, finance and technology domain. Data collection was done in the BIM infant construction industry in Nigeria. Verification of the descriptors and an evaluation of BIM uptake capability in organisations was done. Seventy-three responses were received within the selected context, and data analysis was done with mean weighting and exploratory factor analysis. Maximum Likelihood extraction and Direct Oblimin rotation were used.FindingsFactor analysis revealed three factors that explained 53.28% of the total variance in the BIM Level 2 uptake capability of construction organisations. The factors are workforce capacity and continuous development, an affinity for innovation and strength in physical and operational facilities.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides an overarching and insightful discussion on BIM uptake capability and construction digitalisation with evidence from a BIM-infant construction industry.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are a piece of valuable empirical evidence on Level 2 BIM uptake capability. This empirical situation analysis will inform the advocacy for the advancement of BIM and enhanced utilisation of building information. Evidence on the capability performance of the BIM infant industry has been revealed.Originality/valueThe outcome is expected to stir debate on the preparedness of organisations to further exploit the benefits of BIM in the BIM infant construction industry. Examination of the capability for a particular phase of BIM is scanty in the literature.

Study on Quality Efficiency for Bim-Based Construction Projects

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) has recently compelled the construction sector to employ Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a central repository for digital project information. BIM has thus become a major influence in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries (AEC). Although BIM improves design quality by minimising disputes and decreasing rework, there is limited study on applying it throughout a project for quality control and effective information use. Thus, this paper explores and discusses the quality efficiency of BIM-based construction projects. There were 206 questionnaires distributed to government agencies/clients, consultants, and contractors. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Consequently, twenty-seven (27) attributes of quality efficiency of BIM-based construction projects were deemed the determining factor by the three research groups (Government, consultant, and contractor). The research result was to help BIM-based construction project players, especially government agencies/clients, contractors, and consultants, by giving a roadmap to be BIM-compliant and seeing the adoption process to attain BIM level 3 (full integration) for the Malaysian construction sector.

Graph-based version control for asynchronous BIM collaboration

Collaboration and communication are two essential aspects of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Current practice and international standards implement BIM collaboration on the basis of domain model federation where loosely coupled models are managed as separated files and coordinated in a mostly manual fashion. The concept has severe limitations regarding concurrency and version control, as the granularity of change tracking remains on the level of complete files and does not reach individual model objects. Due to this lack of change traceability, high manual effort for the subsequent coordination across the domains is generated. These limitations can be overcome by implementing modern approaches of digital collaboration based on object-level synchronization, widely denoted as BIM level 3. This paper presents a sound methodological basis for object-based version control by (1) representing the object networks of BIM models as formal property graph structures and (2) describing changes of the model by graph transformations. Consequently, modifications can be transmitted as graph transformation rules which are subsequently integrated on the receiving side, thus achieving object-level synchronization. The paper provides the underlying theory of describing model changes by means of graph transformations and demonstrates its benefits using the example of domain models implementing the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) as their underlying data model.

Making Sense of Multi-Actor Social Collaboration in Building Information Modelling Level 2 Projects: A Case in Malaysia

Despite the diversity of thinking among the scholars on building information modelling (BIM) collaboration, there is a paucity of studies that capture the dimension of social collaboration in BIM projects. This study attempts to develop a comprehensive understanding on the key attributes of multi-actor social collaboration in BIM projects through the experience of practitioners in BIM-Level 2 construction project. The success of multi-actor social collaboration has been investigated through structured interviews with 22 BIM practitioners in a BIM-Level 2 project based on an established theoretical framework of social collaboration. The findings indicted that relationship-oriented attributes; relational contracts BIM execution plan; guideline, standard and work process manual approaches; employer information requirement (EIR); understanding roles and leadership; commitment from top management; resources; training, team building workshop and awareness program; coordination; and understanding on the theoretical knowledge of BIM are of importance towards multi-actor social BIM collaboration. This study acknowledges that the success of multi-actor social collaboration was influenced by the consolidation of many attributes, and it extends the dominant relationship between related attributes for multi-actor social collaboration based on the "best practice approach", which includes dominant-centric attributes (i.e., behaviour formation, procurement model and support principles). This research contributes to the body of BIM knowledge in the construction domain by focusing on what it takes to achieve greater social collaboration in BIM Level 2 projects.

Building information modelling (BIM) readiness of construction professionals: the context of the Seychelles construction industry

PurposeAlthough building information modelling (BIM) adoption in developed countries has largely been incentivised by government, in developing countries, adoption is often driven by desires of industry professionals, which is dependent on awareness of BIM and availability of skills among the professionals. Thus, BIM awareness and competence among professionals have become useful baseline measures of BIM readiness. To ascertain BIM readiness within the Seychelles construction industry, this study aims to investigate the level of BIM awareness and level of BIM competence among construction professionals.Design/methodology/approachThe study involved a questionnaire survey of construction professionals (n = 96) and data analysis using both descriptive statistics and association analysis.FindingsThe results indicate a moderate level of BIM awareness, but a low level of engagement in BIM education/training. Also, the professionals have very low BIM technical skills, notably the ability to use BIM-related tools and to perform BIM-related task. Furthermore, this study suggests that the experience of working on collaborative projects could be a useful premise for BIM implementation among construction professionals.Originality/valueThe implication is that construction professionals in the Seychelles need to start readying themselves for greater BIM adoption by taking steps to address the BIM technical skills deficiencies and the low engagement in BIM education/training.

COMPARING BIM ADOPTION AROUND THE WORLD, SYRIA’S CURRENT STATUS AND FURTURE

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is an old-new and ever evolving concept, technology, and method of construction, it’s been a while since BIM obligated itself as a necessity not just a luxury, due to the massive benefits it had brought to the AEC industry. BIM is in a constant phase of evolvement and maturity with new ideas and elements being brought up to the table each day, and thus; the BIM level in each project and/or country is in a different level depending on specific factors. In this research we will take a closer look on various countries’ experiences in BIM and what maturity level each one of them have reached, what are the major obstacles standing in the way of Adopting BIM Technology and how to avoid them, with some examples and statistics to enrich the content, and at the end, and after exploring the most possible number of examples around the globe, we will be looking exclusively on the Middle Eastern region’s experience in implementing BIM and then dive deeper to the Syrian current BIM Status, and why Syria is still falling behind in this criteria, how to develop this technology in the future within the nation, what had been done so far to encourage the usage of this technology, and what benefits would it bring to the Syrian Construction and Financial Industry especially under the current circumstances and during the upcoming phase of reconstructing the devastated areas.

Building Information Modelling in Indonesia: Knowledge, Implementation and Barriers

This article aims to identify the status of construction industry practitioners in Indonesia in terms of their knowledge and current practices as well as the barriers for implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM). This study utilises a questionnaire survey, aimed at the construction industry practitioners in Indonesia. The result shows that BIM is still a novelty for the construction practitioners in Indonesia. This is backed with the finding that more than 60% of the respondents was not familiar with BIM terminology or did not have proper knowledge of BIM terminology. More than 70% of the respondents' projects have implemented BIM Level 1, mostly in transportation service, energy production and distribution, roads and bridges, and the building infrastructure category. The five highest ranks of barriers to BIM implementation are lack of BIM training, lack of BIM experience and capability, no client demand, high cost in software and hardware acquisition, and inadequate information technology (IT) facilities. The recommended strategy should be initiated by the government, by conducting a comprehensive familiarisation programme covering BIM knowledge, BIM advantages and BIM implementation in the industry. At the same time, the government should prepare regulations and standards as guidance to BIM implementation in Indonesia.

BIM Competencies Insight and Improvement Perspective for Qatari Construction Industry

This article aims to provide and discuss the results of this local campaign, as well. It has been addressed to professionals of the construction industry, and its findings will be utilized to enhance their BIM competencies. In order to support mega-events in the near future, such as the FIFA 2022 World Cup, the Qatari construction sector is dealing with exceptional opportunities and challenges in the Building Information Modeling (BIM) domain. Accordingly, this article seeks to provide a local insight of the BIM competencies available by adopting an integrated approach to BIM assessment. More than 220 practitioners have completed the assessment campaign that was conducted on a large scale across Qatar. Based on the findings, the BIM level among practitioners within the Qatari construction industry varies from basic, intermediate to advanced. There is a need to raise this BIM level and improve BIM competencies. An educational BIM framework is under development to tackle those needs and fulfil industry expectations of academia.

Lifecycle Exchange for Asset Data (LEAD)

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to outline the problems associated with asset information management using the Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) standard and to analyse the causes of industry failure to successfully adopt the standard. Based on this analysis, the paper will propose a process model, namely, Lifecycle Exchange of Asset Data (LEAD) to manage asset dataflow between all building stakeholders from design to construction and ultimately to the facility management team. This model aims to help the construction supply chain to produce complete and high-quality asset data that supports the operation phase of the built environment.Design/methodology/approachA review of relevant studies provided a theoretical background for this study. The authors then collected and analysed COBie data from five live construction projects using building information modelling (BIM) projects from different design and construction companies. The process model is based on an industry placement within Bouygues UK construction company, which was a Tier 1 building contractor in London in the period from December 2016 to December 2018. The researcher used an inductive approach observing current practises in two construction projects to produce “LEAD” model. Then a focus group was conducted with industry experts to discuss and refine the process model.FindingsAnalysis of literature and data collected in the course of this study revealed that although COBie is a BIM Level 2 standard in the UK, there is currently a low success rate in producing complete and accurate COBie data in the UK construction industry. This low rate is because of COBie’s rigid data syntax/structure, complexity and ambiguity of its data exchange process, which suggests that COBie may not be the future of the industry. Based on these findings, the study proposed a process model, namely, “LEAD,” to improve COBie output and also to be used with project-specific information requirements.Practical implicationsTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to focus solely on asset data exchange process using COBie standard and highlights the problems the industry faces in this remit. The study is based on industry placement for two years, so the analysis is based on actual and current industry problems. Current industry practices also informed the “LEAD” model, and the model provides a step-by-step guidance in producing and exchanging BIM asset data in all stages of the building lifecycle.Originality/valueThis paper provides a detailed analysis of the most common problems associated with COBie as an asset data exchange standard. Understanding these problems is of high value for industry practitioners to avoid them in projects. The paper also proposed a novel process model that can be used either to improve COBie quality or can be used with any project-specific data requirements.

Managing change in BIM-Level 2 projects: benefits, challenges, and opportunities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to validate perceived benefits and challenges of managing change in Building Information Modelling (BIM) Level 2 projects and to further explore the opportunities for enhancing the benefits and reducing the challenges. This research is timely because, hitherto, the benefits and challenges of managing change in BIM Level 2 remained largely unvalidated and the opportunities for enhancing the benefits and reducing challenges remained relatively unexplored.Design/methodology/approachA combination of a questionnaire survey and interviews with BIM Level 2 practitioners in the UK was employed in this study. In all, 41 responses were received from the questionnaire survey and ten subsequent interviews with BIM practitioners were carried out to explore opportunities for reducing challenges and increasing benefits of managing change in BIM Level 2 projects.FindingsThe study confirms benefits and challenges of managing change in BIM Level 2 projects identified and synthesised from literature, a much needed validation. Additional benefits and challenges were also identified in this study, such as cost saving and risk reduction (benefits) and social dimension issues in the BIM Level 2 processes (challenges). Opportunities identified to enhance benefits and reduce challenges were mainly socially driven, and were either reactive or proactive in nature.Research limitations/implicationsOpportunities for reducing challenges and increasing benefits identified from this research can inform the change management processes in BIM-Level 2.Practical implicationsThe findings provide concrete basis for shaping BIM Level 2 change management processes and requirements.Social implicationsThe identification of behaviours as shaping the social requirements for BIM-Level 2 confirms the need for a socio-technical approach to successful BIM implementation.Originality/valueThe identification of behaviours as shaping the social requirements for BIM Level 2 confirms the need for a socio-technical approach to successful BIM implementation.

Scientometric analysis of BIM-based research in construction engineering and management

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to summarize the latest research of BIM adoption in construction engineering and management (CEM) and propose research directions for future scholarly work. During the recent decade, building information modeling (BIM) has gained increasing applications and research interest in the construction industry. Although there have been review-based studies that summarized BIM-based research in the overall architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) area, there is limited review that evaluates the current stage of BIM-based research specifically in the CEM sub-area.Design/methodology/approachCEM falls into the scope of AEC. It involves construction-related tasks, activities and processes (e.g. scheduling and cost estimates), issues (e.g. constructability), as well as human factors (e.g. collaboration). This study adopted a holistic literature review approach that incorporates bibliometric search and scientometric analysis. A total of 276 articles related to BIM applied in CEM were selected from Scopus as the literature sample for the scientometric analysis.FindingsSome key CEM research areas (e.g. CEM pedagogy, integrated project delivery, lean and off-site construction) were identified and evaluated. Research trends in these areas were identified, and analyses were carried out with regard to how they could be integrated with BIM. For example, BIM, as a data repository for ACE facilities, has substantial potential to be integrated with a variety of other digital technologies, project delivery methods and innovative construction techniques throughout the whole process of CEM.Practical implicationsAs BIM is one of the key technologies and digital platforms to improve the construction productivity and collaboration, it is important for industry practitioners to be updated of the latest movement and progress of the academic research. The industry, academics and governmental authorities should work with joint effort to fill the gap by first recognizing the current needs, limitations and trends of applying BIM in the construction industry. For example, it needs more understanding about how to address technical interoperability issues and how to introduce the integrated design and construction delivery approach for BIM implementation under the UK BIM Level 2/3 framework.Originality/valueThis study contributed to the body of knowledge in BIM by proposing a framework leading to research directions including the differences of BIM effects between design-bid-build and other fast-track project delivery methods; the integration of BIM with off-site construction; and BIM pedagogy in CEM. It also addressed the need to investigate the similarities and differences between academia and industry toward perceiving the movement of BIM in construction field work.

Digital twin aided sustainability-based lifecycle management for railway turnout systems

Railway turnouts or so-called ‘switches and crossings’ are complex systems by nature of design and construction. Railway turnouts are used to change direction of trains from one to another. They require high-quality construction and maintenance, in order to minimise rapid degradation and component failures that could result in train derailments. Due to the complexity of railway turnouts, the efficiency and effectiveness of maintenance can be improved by integrating existing practice by Building Information Modelling (BIM). This research establishes and analyses the world's first 6D BIM for life cycle management of a railway turnout system. The BIM (Level 3) has integrated 6-dimensions of field data information based on Revit-2018 and Navisworks-2018 platforms. The digital twins of a railway turnout in 3D embrace time schedule, costs and sustainability across the whole life cycle. The use of BIM for railway turnout systems has the potential to improve the overall information flow of the turnout planning and design, manufacturing pre-assembly and logistic, construction and installation, operation and management and demolition, thereby achieving better project performance and quality. Based on integrated information of railway turnout system, the 6D BIM has the ability to assess on economic, management and sustainability, and achieve a balance among them. This is the word first to demonstrate that BIM can fully deliver its essential benefits by information sharing, easing technical communication, improving design quality, reducing of design errors, accelerating implementation, speeding up work, shortening construction duration, reducing construction costs, enhancing carbon efficiency, supporting project management, and providing its owners with higher operational efficiency over the railway turnout system life-cycle. The results reveal that embodied material emission is the main contributor towards carbon footprint, especially produced during the manufacturing stage. The reconstruction stage contributes the most expensive phase of life cycle. The insight will significantly benefit the co-value creation among engineers, project managers, technicians, and senior management team.

Exploring the BIM and lean synergies in the Istanbul Grand Airport construction project

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a solid understanding of how integrated building information modeling (BIM) is implemented in a mega project such as the (Istanbul Grand Airport IGA) construction project, which is the main case study in the research methodology.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines and identifies the lean efficiency gains achieved in the IGA project and highlights the synergies between BIM and lean concepts based on the facts and figures from the case study analysis. In complex projects, there is a vital need for a comprehensive approach that would enable successful managing of design and construction information via accurate modeling, collaboration and integration throughout the project lifecycles covering various disciplines.FindingsThe research findings in the paper make a significant impact in understanding the strategic perception for BIM as a new way of working methodology for the construction industry in Turkey, since the IGA project has become not only a key learning hub for the Turkish construction industry, but also a global landmark for digital construction and project delivery. In addition it proves the mutual synergies between BIM and lean practices.Originality/valueThe IGA project is a mega-scale airport construction project with features beyond building industry challenges, and it should be designed and constructed with tight deadlines and budgets and be operated afterwards in an effective and efficient way. Can lean and BIM help for timely and on-budget completion of the project and could they support the management of the airport facility after handover? The paper also discusses the lean and BIM implementation in the project in relation to the BIM Level 3 requirements.

A review on the execution method for building information modelling projects in Hong Kong

Building information modelling (BIM) has over a decade of development history in Hong Kong’s architect, engineering and construction industry. Its benefits have been well proven and widely recognised in a lot of previous studies. This paper looks into the amount of BIM value realisation and level of BIM participation by project members from the angle of implementation approach and procurement strategy. The past experience from different pioneers is collected and reviewed through in-depth interviews and open literature. It is found that most projects in the local market are at level 1 BIM maturity using a ‘one-sided management process’. Although some sort of project collaboration can be realised, it is still far from the full potential that BIM could offer. It is suggested that more consideration should be put on resource utilisation during the planning of BIM execution to enable better productivity through the use of technology.

A Collaborative Academia-Industry Approach to Developing a Higher Education Programme in Building Information Modelling

Building Information Modelling (BIM) refers to a new collaborative way of working, which places a digital model at the epicentre of the construction process to inform decisions during the entire lifecycle of a project. In the UK, BIM Level 2 is now a mandatory requirement for all centrally-procured government projects. This is not the case in Ireland but there is evidence that clients are driving this transition via the inclusion of Employer Information Requirements in design-phase tender documentation. This move towards BIM Level 2 poses a number of challenges as it marks a significant shift from the way a project has been traditionally procured, designed, constructed and operated. In this challenge lies an opportunity for the higher education sector to respond by developing appropriate learning opportunities, both for students and industry stakeholders. This paper will chart how a close collaboration between the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) and the RPS Group facilitated the development of a flexible higher education programme in BIM.

Collaborative & Multidiscipline Working - From Theory to Practice in 48 Hours

Latest statistics would indicate that the policy related to Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation is working, with awareness and usage figures for both the UK and Ireland going over the 50% mark for the first time. However, whilst these results are positive, there is a realisation that there is still a distance to travel before BIM use could be considered comprehensive. This would suggest that there is still a need for a greater number of case studies to promote collaborative working practices, the BIM process and the benefits and challenges associated with its use. This paper intends to assist in this regard by documenting the outcomes from a 48-hour BIM competition in which the authors participated. Although the project was hypothetical, it allowed for collaborative working via a cloud based platform, simulating real world practice and many of the working methods required to deliver BIM Level 2. The paper will focus on providing critical analysis of the challenges faced and the lessons to be learnt from the implementation of BIM processes on this project.

The Issues and Considerations Associated with BIM Integration

The management of data, information and knowledge through the project life cycle of buildings and civil infrastructure projects is becoming increasingly complex. As an attempt to drive efficiencies and address this complexity, the United Kingdom Government has mandated that Building Information Modelling (BIM) methods must be adopted in all public sector construction projects in 2016. Emerging from the US Department of Defence, BIM is an approach to the co-ordination of design and production data using object-oriented principles as described in ISO 29481-1:2010. The underlying philosophy of BIM is to ensure the “provision of a single environment to store shared asset data and information, accessible to all individuals who are required to produce, use and maintain it” (PAS 1192-2:2013). A key aspect of BIM lies in the notion of ‘interoperability’ between various software applications used in the design and construction process and a common data format for the efficient exchange of design information and knowledge. Protagonists of BIM argue that this interoperability provides an effective environment for collaboration between actors in the construction process and creates accurate, reliable, repeatable and high-quality information exchange. This UK government mandate presents numerous challenges to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professions; in particular, the characteristics of BIM Level 2 remain explicitly undefined and this created a degree of uncertainty amongst the promoters and those professionals charged with delivering projects. This research casts a critical lens on the current literature in the domains of object-oriented modelling of infrastructure and the associated implications for procurement and project management. A mixed-methods approach using questionnaire analysis and secondary case study analysis was used to enact an inductive research approach that captures a range of data on the practical issues and considerations associated with the integration of BIM in the industry.