Public/Private BIM: An Irish Perspective

1. Introduction

The Irish Construction Industry is currently at a crossroads, faced with reduced fees, increased responsibilities and higher client expectations. All professionals working in this fragmented and broken industry will need to adapt working procedures in order for the industry to return to prosperity. There is a need to assert new relevancy in today’s rapidly changing industry by embracing new technology. This action can replace traditional cumbersome working practices with a virtual model that performs more efficiently, delivers more valuable information and, most importantly, achieves greater cost certainty.

This overall aim of this paper is to suggest a more robust methodology which can be used within the Irish public and private sector to help produce a more intelligent and efficient estate. This involves the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology and its associated tools, to help stimulate the Irish construction industry. The Authors primary data collation methodology will involve the use of a survey, of both the Irish public and private sector. Collected data will be further complimented with a number of semi-structured and structured interviews with leading professionals from both sectors. The Authors also conducted a literature review of journal papers, professional publications and research articles with regard to the application of BIM as a tool for managing public and private sector estates. The literature review focused on four main topic areas, in order to establish the proposed methodology. These are set-out below:

• 1.

  BIM in the Global Arena;

• 2.

  Can BIM assist the Irish Construction Industry;

• 3.

  A BIM Mandate for Publicly-Funded Projects; and

• 4.

  BIM: A Driver for Cultural Change.

2. Bim In The Global Arena

In order to understand if BIM can help the Irish construction industry, it is imperative that an investigation should take place into the performance of BIM in other international countries. If the Irish construction industry were to adapt and embrace BIM, we must examine the transition to BIM undertaken by these countries, in order to determine if we can also adopt their approach and migrate to BIM with minimal disruption.

Research indicates that the US is the main driving force behind BIM in the world and they are actively urging domestic firms and contractors to engage with BIM on all projects. BIM, as an innovative approach to design and construction for pioneering early adopters is now taking its place firmly in the north American construction industry and, will do so in the next twenty-year period, making BIM as important to the industry as Excel is for any office in the US. The McGraw-Hill Construction Report found that the adoption of BIM has expanded from 17% in 2007 to 71% in 2012 (McGraw-Hill, 2012). It may appear counterintuitive to increase spending during a recession, though research indicates, that the American construction industry is continuing to invest in a more efficient and productive future by embracing technologies and processes such as BIM (McGraw-Hill, 2012). The same report concluded with:

• •

  Adoption has grown from 17% in 2007, to 49% in 2009 and 71% in 2012;

• •

  More contractors (74%) are using BIM than architects (70%);

• •

  Almost 40% of BIM users are using the technology on a daily basis (McGraw-Hill, 2012).