Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK 2
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Collaboration platform and building information modelling
BIM means different things to different people and disciplines. Ironically, as BIM is still a young
phenomenon in the industry, many of its potentials are still being conceptualized. Some of these
attributes have been summarised in the literature presented in Table 1. Summarising these
propositions, BIM evidently represents a dynamic platform for inter-operating digital information on
construction projects, including virtual repositories for generating, sorting, sourcing, sharing, updating
and extending all forms of digital data across dispersed disciplines that are participating in integrated
systems. (Aranda-Mena et al. 2009) have summarized some contemporary and comparative opinions
regarding BIM definitions and concepts. Arguably, BIM technologies, techniques and skills are
laterally different and more productive than conventional CAD applications. Case studies reported by
(Aranda-Mena et al. 2008a; Fusell et al. 2007; Olofsson et al. 2008) indicate that, apart from the
adoption of software applications and integrated processes, success in BIM platforms is triggered by
certain behavioural patterns in the stakeholders. Such necessary attributes include a genuine
willingness and commitment of the stakeholders to co-operate, collaborate, share values and
communicate effectively. As these frameworks are missing in entity-based CAD systems, and this
challenge has clearly been criticised (McKinney and Fischer 1998), BIM promises a major shift in
data management in conventional design, construction and facilities management systems.