Initiatives for BIM adoption in the leading countries

Construction industry in recent years has been experiencing new wave of change with regard to technology, project procedures and even organizational structures. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technological and procedural shift within the AEC industry. Its leveraging in project enables a level of collaboration that not only improves efficiency and reduces errors, but also raises productivity. Many developed countries have adopted BIM in their respective construction industries due to its benefits and hence making them the leading countries on its implementation and expertise. The goal of the research was to review BIM mandates and support in the leading countries and the initiatives that encourage its implementation. In addition, case studies of successful BIM usage in a projects of some countries under review were discussed and presented. Research findings indicate that most of the leading countries made it mandatory for BIM to be used in public projects. UK, Singapore, Finland, Norway and Denmark have developed a national BIM mandate while USA and UAE have BIM requirements by agencies and Dubai municipality respectively. Government through its agencies was found to be the major driver of BIM implementation by introducing various initiatives. It formed regulations and policies that made industry players restructure and come up with new ways to align themselves towards implementation of BIM in their projects. These efforts have resulted in tangible benefits like projects teams being more efficient through increased collaboration as well as improved productivity in the industry. Four case studies were also presented from three different countries. Most of these large scale projects that started within the period of 2014 to 2017 are still ongoing but clearly shows how BIM was implemented and its related challenges faced and subsequent benefits. In conclusion, this research indicate that despite the challenges of implementing BIM, governments and private sector including all the industry players worked coherently towards successful BIM adoption in leading countries. In addition, those countries that had elaborate BIM strategy and BIM policies that were enforced by the government like the UK have come ahead of the rest as its industry is now BIM level 2 compliant.