BIM Development and Trends in Developing Countries: Case Studies

Building Information Technology (BIM) has proven effective and useful across the sectors in the built environment. This is critical to promote this emerging technology, particularly to developing countries. Malaysia and Sri Lanka have been selected for this book to highlight different levels of BIM position and to explain their different backgrounds and the need for BIM development. It provides a clear flow of message and understanding about relevant developments and activities in the construction sector. The discussions made towards the countries can be referred by other developing countries. The findings are able to provide new insights into future uptake and development of BIM worldwide.

Malaysian construction industry contributes significantly to the economy. Several professional bodies and institutions are governing the practice in the industry. Numerous policies have been prescribed that are intended to address chronic, systemic weaknesses within the construction sector. Generally, these follow global trends and lead the world in application. Generally too, their application is on public sector projects where the sophisticated client can leverage demand side insistence that new techniques and systems are employed. On the mid-range, conventionally procured, private sector projects that are the single largest market sector, little empirical research or tangible evidence exists of these techniques transfusing from public to private sector. Therefore, although policies do exist to shape the strategic form and direction of the industry, at a tactical level, with particular regard to BIM, they must be deemed inadequate as to its ability to collaborate, provide and retrieve accurate information in the model.

Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a presidential system. The colonial influence, primarily of British, is still notable in the legal, educational and industrial sectors in Sri Lanka. Procurement systems adopted in Sri Lankan Construction Industry are similar to those in the United Kingdom. Pricing efficiency in the Sri Lankan construction industry is significantly low. The Institute for Construction Training and Development (ICTAD) is the prominent government institute in Construction Industry. Nevertheless, it is obvious that the industry requires more structured and effective institutional and regulatory framework. Besides, the Sri Lankan construction industry will require embracing the contemporary development in knowledge and technology.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an abstract concept. The preferred definition of BIM is “Building Information Modelling is digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility creating a shared knowledge resource for information about it forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life cycle, from earliest conception to demolition” (Snook, 2011). Different dimensions and capabilities of BIM are articulated, such as 4D, 5D, 6D, etc. Interoperability issues have been discussed with Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) specification and Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie). BIM maturity models have been compared. Subsequently, the chapter reviews a brief historical perspective on BIM software. It then proceeds to describe current and commonly available BIM software. Eventually, it concludes with an overview of training programmes that are pertinent to the obtaining of BIM software skills.

The searching for the end-to-end application and effectiveness of the practice of BIM is still in process. The authors believe that the barriers and issues faced by BIM, are tackled through the usage of cloud computing or the web. A cloud based framework acts as a central server where all the designs and engineering software are located. These data can then be accessed by personnel and used in a local server before being synced back with the central server. This makes it more efficient for users to coordinate using BIM. Apart from that, the focus of the industry has been on how to make a basic BIM work, as opposed to exploring what can be achieved with BIM. This is changing as an ever increasing array of specialised products and services evolved. This is beginning to change as more government agencies express an interest in developing BIM-based workflows that add efficiencies to design approval and regulatory compliance. Besides, availability of library data in BIM is required to make BIM work effectively. In conclusion, BIM is evolving organically across a range of dimensions and building lifecycle phases.

Although it can be seen that pockets of BIM awareness exist in Malaysia, there is no comprehensive picture of the level of awareness or perceptions across the Malaysian construction industry. There are insufficient BIM competent people in Malaysia. There are grave concerns pertaining to the legal issues that may or may not be attributable to BIM, including protection of IPR and the implications for professional liability. The Malaysian Government may have policies intended to support BIM adoption but these are unknown to the industry. Overall, there is a strong belief that acquiring a BIM capability will provide a competitive advantage in the market place. It is recommended that the government should appoint a BIM champion and Task Force to promote BIM development in Malaysia.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is not yet adopted in Sri Lanka. Improving the BIM awareness within the industry and beyond is a significant challenge in a BIM infant industry. BIMLab Network research group centred at the University of Moratuwa was the only active organization which has taken steps to increase the BIM awareness in the country at the time of writing. Besides, a wide variety of BIM software is made available by software vendors. Selection of software applications is primarily affected by the features of the software and the affordability. However, due to need of efficient information sharing and interoperability, the BIM Software Environment (BIMSE) would first affect the selection of software; or the selection of team members will depend on what software they use. Therefore, the decision of BIMSE becomes critical. Active involvement of Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka would significantly change the context so that preferred BIMSE would shift to HSE. However, BIM is not in current ICTA agenda. An effort to convince ICTA of the benefit the country could receive by implementing BIM would become a significant leap in BIM adoption in the country.

The technology underpinning BIM including hardware, BIM software, facilitating hardware such as IT infrastructure (firm, national and international, fixed line and mobile), software such as collaboration platforms, document management systems and emerging cloud based technologies, continues to rapidly evolve and converge. Capability is continuing to evolve with BIM data now being integrated with site surveying and engineering equipment, such as total stations, helping BIM move to site. RFID tagging and bar-coding are amongst the many initiatives extending capability throughout the supply chain. As such, the awareness and adoption of BIM can be regarded in a longitudinal perspective. The human change resistance perspective relating to acceptance of new technology and legal implications of BIM implementation are recommended for further investigations. Besides, currently there is no reliable research regarding the adoption of BIM amongst different countries and relative to each other. It is recommended that comparison research is carried out in this area. This book provides a useful insight on BIM in Malaysia and Sri Lanka and also serves as a practical reference for the developing countries.