Optimizing infrastructure development through BIM: A comprehensive analysis of lifecycle benefits and applications

Development of a Building Information Modelling Asset (BIMAsset) value realisation model

PurposeAdoption of building information modelling (BIM) in facilities management (FM) provides an information platform to store and exchange asset data. Quantity Surveyors, with cost management expertise, are increasingly involved in FM roles in the operation phase. However, no study has been conducted on how BIM may assist Quantity Surveyors when contracted in FM roles. This study aims to identify the potential benefits and challenges of using BIM by Quantity Surveyors in FM roles.Design/methodology/approachInterviews were conducted with eight professionals from an international built and natural asset design and management company and its FM business partner in Australia.FindingsLack of complete and accurate data was the main issue faced by Quantity Surveyors in FM. The benefits of BIM in FM were digitizing and storing asset information and developing a cost database that would be useful for Quantity Surveyors, whereas challenges included keeping model data up to date, cost, industry resistance to change and contractors' lack of model use.Originality/valueThis study contributes to revealing the niche adoption of BIM by Quantity Surveyors in FM and identifying the issues faced by Quantity Surveyors in FM roles using BIM. It contributes to the knowledge of BIM adoption in post-construction. Findings will be useful to develop strategies for adopting BIM in FM and supporting Quantity Surveyors' roles in FM.

The purpose of this paper is to discover the current methods that facility managers use to manage and track assets and identify a set of attributes for Building Information Modelling (BIM) that can improve the efficiency of the current facility management (FM) practice. A survey of over 100 facility management professionals addressed demographics such as industry sector, number of buildings managed, and use of industry standards or internally developed guidelines for data management. This information is correlated with their current asset management strategies to identify minimum sets of attributes that may be used for an FM-specific BIM. In addition, the survey asked the FM professionals their opinion on the importance of specific asset attributes and data management information that could be included in a BIM for FM. The findings of this paper indicate that there is a consensus on basic information (asset type, unique identification, manufacturer, model number, serial number) needed for asset management, and that there is no generally accepted system on how this is done in current practice. FM professionals and software providers may use the information in this paper to establish baseline sets of data to include in BIM during the design phase of projects. This paper provides insight and data as to the current practice of asset management by facility managers. Understanding the actual needs of the FM industry will assist in future research to implement BIM for FM.

Purpose: To explore the evolution of Facility Management (FM) in the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process. The research aimed to establish Critical Success Factors (CSF) which help deliver successful BIM projects, and to present these in a ‘FM-BIM Mobilisation Framework’. Background: Inefficiencies, poor collaboration and a focus on short-term costs in the construction industry, combined with a lack of innovation and digital competency when ordering projects, have resulted in a failure to deliver assets which have sustainable outcomes over their whole-life. Methodology: A mixed methods concurrent convergent design, incorporating side-by-side narrative text analysis was adopted to merge qualitative/quantitative findings. Critical Success Themes (CST) from literature were then used to establish CSF through; 19 interviews with FM/BIM experts, and a questionnaire to gauge FM industry awareness of BIM (using UK and international inputs). The final merged CSF were incorporated into a framework. This was validated using a two-stage process with a focus group using some of the same FM/BIM experts. Key findings: 10 CSF Main-Themes (MT), with a 100 Sub-Themes (ST) were identified covering important digital skills, knowledge and competences people require to contribute to the BIM process. Clients and Facility Mangers (FMs) must engage early if the full benefits of BIM are to be realised in the operational phase. They must clearly define their information requirements to align with business processes, and collaborate with the delivery team to ensure information is captured/transferred into the relevant management systems. Originality/value: The comprehensive end-to-end framework combines FM and BIM CSF into one online interactive tool which provides a wealth of useful knowledge, sources, benefits and practical examples. Although based on the UK BIM Framework, the alignment with ‘ISO 19650’ ensures it will also benefit an international audience. Keywords: Facility Management (FM), Building Information Modelling (BIM), ‘FM-BIM Mobilisation Framework’, digitalisation, information requirements.

Although a considerable amount of research has addressed the use of building information modelling (BIM) in facilities management (FM) within the past years, there is limited systematic review on investigating the potentials of BIM within the operation and maintenance (O&M) life cycle phase. Yet, this phase could account for approximately 60% of the total life cycle costs of assets. The purpose of this paper is to conduct a systematic literature review on the application of BIM in the O&M phase to identify current research trends, research gaps and future directions. This study achieves the aforementioned purpose by adopting the preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P). It employs qualitative and quantitative techniques to analyse the articles from a combination of three multi-disciplinary research databases, namely—Scopus, Web of Science and Engineering Village, which also comprises Compendex, InSpec, GeoRef and GeoBase sub-databases. After an in-depth review of 196 selected journal articles, this study systemically presents: (1) bibliometric analyses of the literature in BIM and O&M; (2) research patterns and trends; (3) drivers and barriers to BIM–O&M integration; and (4) research gaps mapped into a standard project management lifecycle to guide future research directions. The content analysis reveals that BIM has mainly been integrated under seven functions: information management (IM), advanced technology (AT), maintenance and asset management (MAM), indoor management (IM), performance assessment (PA), visualisation (V), and lean management (LM). Findings of the study reveal that the UK, USA and China are the top ranked countries with regards to research outputs on BIM–O&M integrations. The majority of BIM integrations within O&M falls under the information management function, whereas the least research output was recorded under lean management. In addition, the majority of studies focused on institutional and infrastructure facility types, but residential, industrial and commercial buildings were underrepresented, despite their disproportionate physical dominance within most societies. Findings also show that potential drivers and barriers for BIM integrations within O&M can be classified into three main categories—technical, organisational, and legal/contractual. It is then concluded that the application of BIM within O&M is still emerging, which further emphasises the need for more studies that address value realization in the context of BIM in O&M, with particular focus on the specific O&M principles for different building types.

The adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the operational and maintenance phase remains limited, with many buildings still managed through paper-based processes. While BIM has the potential to optimize various facility management (FM) areas—such as energy performance, security, administration, and space management—most studies only provide global analyses of adoption barriers. This study aims to identify and analyze area-specific barriers to BIM adoption in FM, highlighting the need for tailored integration strategies rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. By taking a novel approach, it investigates these barriers and demonstrates that BIM implementation cannot be uniformly applied across all FM areas. The methodology involves a multi-step process: first, a literature review is conducted to identify generic barriers to BIM implementation. Subsequently, FM areas are classified to provide a structured framework for analysis. Based on this classification, an interview structure is developed to gather expert insights on area-specific barriers. The research proposes that barriers should be assessed based on their impact. While contextual barriers or knowledge areas may be addressed through a global approach, ensuring BIM adoption across all areas requires consideration of specific characteristics. This approach will ultimately facilitate broader implementation in every domain.

PurposeThis paper aims to describe how building information model (BIM) and big data can be combined in the same interface for providing new value to stakeholders, such as the property owner and user, as well as property service and workplace service companies. The research presents a new concept, which shows how the BIM can be exploited efficiently during maintenance.Design/methodology/approachInitially, existing facility management (FM) processes were investigated to find out how to digitize them and identify bottlenecks. Second, BIM’s data content was explored to identify the information that could be used to streamline FM processes. Third, the potential of the active data measured in the building was evaluated. Finally, research was undertaken to find out how constantly fluctuating information can be combined with BIM objects and what kind of added value that combination could offer. The literature review was used to support the primary contribution. In addition, the research problems were described and the basics of the research were obtained by interviews. The author has interviewed 27 professionals from several stakeholders.FindingsThe first finding is that the BIM can serve as a platform for building use, various services and management when it has been adequately generated during the planning and construction phases and enriched before being commissioned. The other essential finding is the theory of conditions data model (CDM), which is a technical environment that combines active data with BIM. The most important advantages of BIM in FM are as follows: • Building owner attains better user satisfaction, acquires better quality and smarter services, saves energy, ensures better indoor conditions and improves building profitability. • Service providers can develop and offer new services, speed up operations, save resources and generate more profits. • The occupant gets a better user experience, faster and higher quality services and better indoor conditions.Research limitations/implicationsThe CDM enables to generate for the real estate and construction (RE&C) sector a novel BIM-based ecosystem with standard rules, instead of every individual operator developing his/her own unique solution for BIM use in FM. This will have an impact on the entire RE&C sector’s operating methods and will have significant financial implications in the near future. Application of this research is limited to office buildings where indoor condition measuring is undertaken continuously and where the knowledge of the use cases of spaces is available. In addition, the proper BIM in the Industry Foundation Classes format must exist. The evaluation of the validity of big data is not discussed in this article. Visualization of data and content of user interfaces will be the topic of another article by the author. This article does not deal with intricate technical details, but crucial issues are defined.Originality/valueThe article presents a unique method for BIM use in FM. The theory of CDM (how to combine active data with BIM) is completely new and a similar solution has not been presented earlier. The theory of the presented method will be the crucial key for BIM use and will lead worldwide commissioning. Currently, the theory is under test in the practical pilot project. The results of the project will be published in the next article.

The management of complex information flow can be a crucial aspect of Facility Management (FM). Because of the increasing complexity of the present-day building projects, FM activities, for example, maintaining a building facility or a system, normally involve enormous human multitasking across different knowledge domains. Lessons learned from the present successful FM instances manifest that the FM teams are increasingly interested in applying more viable technologies to achieve the effective management of massive information. Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology is one of the promising approaches, as it forms a platform for the users to manage the information of a facility and leverages virtual digital representations as a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle. Nevertheless, the fully immersive environments produced by BIM still lack the capability of mapping a virtual world into a real world, or vice versa. Augmented Reality (AR) is emerging as an advanced visualization which is possible to bridge the gap. It enables the demonstration of BIM context into the real world, and is envisaged to effectively improve the way of how information is displayed. Meanwhile, the virtuality-to-reality changeover from BIM to AR is conductive to a better understanding of information about a facility from the human perception perspective. The objective of the study is to explore that the merging of AR with BIM is a way for improving the information search and management in FM applications. This chapter firstly brief what is FM and how it is generally implemented. Followed by the state-of-the-art review of BIM/AR aided FM research, the chapter then proposes the viability of integrating BIM and AR and demonstrates its efficacy of processing complex onsite information based on four BIM+AR case studies. Finally, the chapter discusses the technological transferability issues in terms of deploying more and more BIM+AR scenarios in the prospective FM process.

Purpose The recent research trend of building information modelling (BIM) involves interoperability and issues pertaining to the design, construction, operations, and maintenance phases of a building. However, few researchers are concerned with problems encountered in the last two phases of the building life cycle. Since BIM has been widely used in the design and construction phases, further expanding the BIM data stream to the post-construction phase can not only establish a consistent, shared database for information exchange between the phases but assist in current facility management applications. This research reconceptualises BIM with object-oriented thoughts to a space-based representation, and tries to construct an interface between BIM and existing facility management software. Method Model-driven architecture (MDA) is one of the modern software design approaches. With its foundation – meta-object facility (MOF) – and model transformation, MDA provides an ideal solution for easily maintaining the interoperability. In this research, a MOF of a building is constructed by imitating the MDA approach, encapsulating BIM data and providing an interface for external facility management software. This MOF of a building is designed with spatial interference due to the maintenance and repair work is usually based on the space. Results & Discussion A conceptual demonstration of disaster mitigation is conducted to test the feasibility of using MDA to encapsulate BIM data for extended applications. Furthermore, the expected results are reconstructing maintenance records to a space-based database for a better software design and a solution for interoperability.

BIM (Building Information Modeling) is a new radically different emerging approach to design, construction and facilities management. BIM promises to better facilitate the building development, construction and building operation. In this thesis the domain of small architectural practices is considered and how BIM can be implemented to address the problems both of operational and product efficiency and effectiveness.
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\nResearch has indicated that guidance on how small architectural practices should implement BIM is lacking (Jung et al 2010). This lack of guidance is one of the reasons why small architectural practices are disinclined to adopt BIM. There is a growing need for more knowledge on how BIM technology and processes can be and should be adopted and what happens when BIM technologies and processes are implemented and used in the practice of architecture.
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\nThe aim of this thesis is to develop a BIM implementation strategy framework for small architectural practices.
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\nTo identify of the problems and issues of BIM implementation in a small architectural practice, a two years of case study using action research was undertaken. This involved instigating, participating and observing the implementation of BIM within a small architectural practice. Both the internal and external benefits to the architectural practice were considered. The findings of this BIM implementation research were then recorded and reviewed providing a structured approach to BIM implementation. From this process of review and reflection a revised improved framework and suggested methods for BIM adoption was developed and documented. At each stage of the BIM implementation recommendations are made.
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\nThe research was undertaken as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University of Salford, John McCall Architects (a small architectural practice) and the researcher and author of this thesis. Though being actively involved in the BIM implementation it was possible to understand the issues and document the actions that were taken as part of the BIM adoption. The major limitation of this research is the focus on a single company as the source of evidence and research.
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\nThis enhanced BIM implementation framework and the suggested working methods represents the primary contribution to knowledge made by this thesis. This framework should be of value to other small architectural practices embarking on BIM implementation.

The fields of Construction Management are so vast these days that it enriched with so many elements contemplate to 7D of BIM (Building Information Modeling). Facility Management holds the 7D position to understand and acquire proper knowledge about the quality and performance of a building structure. The purpose of this paper is to identify research gaps in the field of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Facility Management (FM) business, as well as practical issues that facility management professionals face while using BIM. The key to successful BIM deployment in the FM business is to improve communication among various stakeholders throughout the project lifecycle. However, there is still some debate over the value of FM in the construction business. To put it another way, construction does not comprehend FM. There are also concerns about interoperability and data exchange. The Quality of information is connected with PIM and AIM with various IQ perspectives. It is determined that BIM-based FM procedures have the potential to change not just the perspective of the FM sector, but also the perspective of the whole industry, as they are based on a collaborative approach to the delivery of intelligent facilities.

Purpose The oil and gas industry form the main resource of economy in Iraq and constructing any project in such sectors requires a huge amount of expenses due to the unique requirements that oil and gas facilities required in such projects. Therefore, adopting an appropriate technological approach such as building information modeling (BIM) which is unfortunately not adopted yet in Iraq is essential to successfully deliver these projects. Thus, this paper aimed to introduce BIM to Iraq through Basra Oil Company (BOC) which is one of the biggest public oil and gas companies in Iraq. Design/methodology/approach The related literature of journals articles, conference proceedings and published reports have been reviewed. As a result, firstly: a hypothesis has been derived that is “If Basra Oil Company (BOC) adopts and applies BIM approach instead of the 2D approach currently used to manage its projects, the company can overcome several constraints in managing its projects that associated with such 2D traditional approach”; secondly: homogenous, consistence and reliable web-based questionnaire has been designed as its Cronbach’s alpha equal to 0.897 and 0.711 for BIM benefits and barriers, respectively. This questionnaire distributed to the BOC related professionals to test such hypothesis by investigating their readiness and accepting of BIM approach and to rank BIM barriers based on five-point Likert scale. Findings Based on the analysis using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 of 115 responses, almost 50% of the respondents had experience 11–15 years, while 22.6% had experience more than 15 years in oil and gas industry construction projects. Those participants were from diverse engineering majors that are: 4.3% Architectural Engineers, 31.3% Civil Engineers, 20% Mechanical Engineers, 22.6% Electrical Engineers and 21.7% from other engineering majors. The respondents’ departments demography was 16.5% of design department, 12.2% of construction department, 20.9% of Project Management Department, 12.2% of Maintenance department, 4.3% of HSE Department, 13% of Production Department and 20.9% of “Other Department.” The study resulted in 1: accepting BIM approach to be an alternative of current 2D-traditional approach used by the company to manage and construct its projects, since mean of collected data is (4.4332), Kruskal–Wallis H test significance values were 0.398 and 0.372; and ANOVA test significance values were 0.433 and 0.599 among Engineering Majors groups and Company’s Department groups, respectively. 2: Disclosed and sequenced BIM barriers in the company based on their criticality. 3: verifying reliably how BIM attributes are important to oil and gas construction projects in Iraq, 4: the company top management and company policies are the most critical potential factors to hinder or adopt and implement BIM in the company, 5: while cost is not seen a critical barrier to implement BIM in the oil and gas sector. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this study is the excluding of decision makers of BOC, thus more profound future studies need to be conducted where top management and decision makers are involved, particularly the present study demonstrated that support of company top management is the most critical factor which can help the company to adopt (BIM). Originality/value The study concludes that BIM approach is valuable for managing projects in oil and gas sector in Iraq and identify the originality in output by using the research method. This noble study provides a leverage for enhanced research to adopt and implement building information modeling (BIM) in Iraq as the study originally demonstrates benefits and identifies the critical barriers in BIM implementation to push the boundaries toward adopt Digitalization and reduce CO2 emission in Iraqi oil and gas sector. The study can be used as evidence and platform to encourage professionals and practitioners to present more sophisticated tools of BIM in the oil and gas industry, especially for facility and operation management. These findings achieved via oil and gas experts, and it is first time to achieve such findings from a case study in Iraqi oil and gas sector.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a hybrid conceptual model for building information modelling (BIM) adoption in facilities management (FM) through the integration of the technology task fit (TTF) and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) theories. The study also aims to identify the influence factors of BIM adoption and usage in FM and identify gaps in the existing literature and to provide a holistic picture of recent research in technology acceptance and adoption in the construction industry and FM sector.Design/methodology/approachThe research methodology was to first review the literature to determine how users come to accept new technologies and what leads to adoption of BIM in the construction industry and in FM and to identify gaps as the starting point for developing a conceptual framework for greater adoption of BIM in FM. Using the results from the literature review, the conceptual framework for BIM adoption in FM has been formulated.FindingsThe resulting model of the current research is expected to improve our understanding of the acceptance and adoption of BIM by FM.Research limitations/implicationsThe research hypotheses need to be tested for validation. Future works includes survey and experts’ interviews for model validation.Originality/valueThis paper fulfils an identified need to study how FM come to accept and adopt BIM through the integration of TTF and UTAUT.

The design of the civil engineering works in High Speed Two (HS2) is a good example of what can be achieved when the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process is embraced. Central to the BIM process is a three-dimensional (3D) model that communicates the civil design to enable construction, asset management, operation and maintenance in a fully collaborative and coordinated multi-disciplinary environment. Software developers of leading BIM packages have responded to the requirements of HS2 and similar projects by delivering feature-rich applications to enable design and BIM to go hand-in-hand. HS2, however, is under a tight programme to deliver a 3D model with a Level of Detail (LOD) beyond what has been required on most projects to date, and this has resulted in exhaustive testing of the software. Such requirements have identified gaps in the BIM software tools for drainage designers. Drainage designers utilise hydraulic modelling software to design and test their designs. This software must be efficient, reliable and, most importantly, have all the design tools necessary to design and test a drainage network to meet the client’s requirements. HS2 Ltd’s requirements under the Asset Data Dictionary Definition Document (AD4) are to provide spatially accurate 3D models along with detailed and relevant asset data. The integrated project team delivering the HS2 Area North works opted to achieve this by delivering fully attributed BIM models. However, software developers of leading drainage design packages do not have the BIM capabilities required to provide a BIM model with the LOD required in HS2 on their own. They must be integrated with a BIM software. This leaves drainage designers using two separate systems with a requirement to integrate two software packages to work seamlessly together in a BIM environment. To overcome this, a suite of tools was developed using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to convert from MicroDrainage (a drainage design tool) to Bentley OpenRoads Designer (a BIM package) and fully attribute the BIM models. The tools have been developed specifically for HS2 feature definitions and requirements, however, with further development, they could be customisable for use on other projects thus improving the level of detail, accuracy and efficiency future deliverables on future projects.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has significantly transformed the construction industry by enhancing project efficiency and collaboration throughout the project lifecycle. The BIM Execution Plan (BEP) serves as a critical framework to guide construction professionals in implementing BIM effectively. However, while the BEP is intended to provide a comprehensive guideline for BIM-based construction projects, many stakeholders failed to fully leverage its benefits, often reducing it to a mere template or formality initiated at the start of a project. This study aims to review existing research related to BEP frameworks within the construction industry to guide successful BIM implementation. The findings reveal that while existing BEP frameworks outline essential elements such as project information, BIM deliverables, workflows, and quality control, only a limited number of studies provide practical guidance on their full utilisation in real-world construction projects. Furthermore, challenges such as inconsistent BEP content, lack of actionable strategies, and limited stakeholder engagement hinder its adoption and integration. This research is expected could highlight the need for a more structured and practical approach to BEP implementation, particularly in developing countries such as Malaysia, where existing frameworks remain underutilised. Hence, this research is significant for the Malaysian construction industry as it aims to bridge the gap between BEP theory and practice, enabling professionals to maximise the benefits of BIM and achieve better project outcomes.