Awareness, usage and benefits of building information modelling (BIM) adoption - The case of the South Australian construction organisations

Research has shown that while Building information modelling (BIM) is not a new concept, and that its uptake is becoming an increasingly important factor in the efficiency and international competitiveness of the Australian construction industry (ACI), when compared with other industries, the ACI is often regarded as being slow to implement new ideas and technologies. Furthermore, they are limited studies conducted which seek to assess the current levels of awareness, usage and advocated benefits of BIM among construction organisations, within the context of South Australia. The study is aimed at filling that knowledge gap. The objectives of this study were to: (1) ascertain the current awareness and determine usage rates of BIM adoption; and (2) establish the advocated benefits relating to the adoption of BIM relative to its impact on project outcomes among the stakeholders of the South Australian construction industry. A field study was conducted with a randomly selected sample of twenty-nine construction organisations. Ten BIM benefits were used, and survey response data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using mean and ranking analysis. Relative to the awareness and usage, the findings indicates that a significant proportion of respondents have little or no understanding on the concept of BIM and the usage was found to be very low. The results indicated that 'improved constructability', 'improved visualisation', 'improved productivity', and 'reduced clashes' as the highly ranked benefits associated with BIM adoption. The highly ranked major issues surrounding the adopting or use of BIM were 'lack of understanding about BIM', 'education & training costs' 'start-up costs' and 'changing the way firms do business'. The practical implication for Senior Managers within the construction organisations are that; awareness of BIM processes through education and training; both formal and informal process including more information, and provision of expertise within BIM could enhance the levels of adoption.