When it comes to developing and adopting BIM, the UK is a leading light. Elaine Knutt takes a tour of countries to see how well BIM translates – and whether the UK can turn its expertise into an export.
Let’s take a satellite view of BIM around the world – the take-up and adoption of data-driven construction by contractors, clients and governments. There are hot spots and cold spots; early adopters and late entrants; markets where BIM is geared to the needs of clients and building owners, and countries where BIM is shaped by supply-side of contractors and consultants. There are territories where BIM software vendors play a central role or a supporting one, and where governments have chosen either the passenger seat or the driver’s.
It is a varied and inconsistent picture, which is hardly surprising when BIM is being adopted in construction markets that are themselves hugely varied. BIM will look very different, for example, in the large, fragmented US and UK industries, where contract relationships need to be foregrounded, than in the smaller Nordic markets, where everyone is more likely to be on the same page.
Nashwan Dawood, professor at the School of Science and Engineering at the UK’s Teesside University, has first-hand experience of BIM’s global variations: he has been appointed to recommend a BIM-adoption route for the government of Qatar, while his senior lecturer colleague, Mohamad Kassem, is undertaking a similar project for the government of Brazil.
“I think every country will develop in their own way, reflecting their government, clients and procurement routes,” says Dawood. “The way contracts are procured has a massive impact.”
Meeting of minds
Phil Bernstein, vice-president of software provider Autodesk, also has a global overview of the factors shaping BIM adoption around the world: “The technology is at the intersection of work processes, national standards, contractual models and project delivery models,” says Bernstein, a former architect at Cesar Pelli Associates. “Construction is highly localised, and BIM is a knowledge system about the way things get built, so the technology operates at the intersection of the delivery model and the software. BIM adoption is a non-trivial problem.”
Around the world, we are seeing most advanced construction markets grapple with BIM to some extent, and most people have a rough notion of a global “league table” of adoption. “You’ve got the super-early adopters in the Nordics, the Austrians and Dutch have stuff going on, and the French and Germans are starting to get engaged,” says Angelo Ciribini, professor at the University of Brescia in Italy. “The beginning is taking some time, and then typically starts developing faster as more people see the benefits and figure out ways of using the technology.”
