Developing the Construction Procurement Methods in the UAE to Implement Building Information Modelling (BIM)

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Date
2016-03
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Volume Title
Publisher
The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a revolutionary technology that presents strong potential to evolve the productivity and performance of the construction industry through improving the integration among stakeholders. Nevertheless, the performance of a new technology can be impaired if it is implemented in an inappropriate process. Therefore, implementing BIM effectively requires significant changes in the construction business practices in order to create more efficient methods for improving communication, collaboration and sharing information among team members in design, construction and operating phases. To keep pace with the global trend of adopting BIM to improve the performance of the construction industry, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has mandated BIM in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Therefore, the currently used processes and framework of the procurement methods in the UAE construction industry need reconsideration so as to ensure the success of BIM implementation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the required reformation in the framework of current procurement methods in the UAE to implement BIM appropriately, and to propose overtures to assist the UAE AEC industry to adopt BIM and facilitate the organisations to utilise maximum benefits of BIM. Accordingly, the research has conducted extensive literature studies in order to identify the required changes needed for the framework of procurement methods to be compatible with adoption of BIM. The literature studies led to the theoretical framework which illustrated that the demanded changes in the procurement methods to ensure proper adoption of BIM are: change in the relationship among participants, change in the contractual agreements, sharing the risks and rewards among stakeholders, early involvement of stakeholders, and involvement of new participants. To examine the information obtained from the literature review, this study adopted qualitative approach to collect the data from practical perspective thereby creating four case studies by conducting face-to-face interviews with hand-picked professionals in the AEC industry, who had vast experience in projects that adopted BIM. The open-ended discussion has participated in identifying the required changes in the procurement ID: 120132 MSc CM 3 methods framework and has assisted in proposing a set of practical approaches to reform the project delivery methods for ensuring successful adoption of BIM. The research findings have articulated that in order to implement BIM process correctly, it is mandatory to change the relationship among participants to be more collaborative, and create a system to share the risks and rewards among the participants to promote cooperation among them. In addition, the most important requisite change is involving the key players from design stage to create proper BIM model that will save time and cost. Furthermore, there are required changes in contracts to oblige the participants to adopt BIM, identify the level of development (LOD) in each stage and determine the responsibilities and intellectual property rights of each stakeholder. Moreover, it is recommended that new stakeholders be involved, like BIM management firm, to manage the BIM process in every stage, determine the required inputs of each stakeholder and the time of each input and control the flow of information among participants.
Description
DISSERTATION WITH DISTINCTION
Keywords
Building Information Modelling (BIM), construction procurement, United Arab Emirates (UAE), construction industry, procurement methods
Citation