1. Business value of construction project management leveraging BIM and interoperability: a new perspective on enablers and challenges for the Belgian market
- Author
-
Bienens, Michiel and Caputi, Mario L.
- Abstract
In Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO), there are high expectations for digitalisation and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The purpose of this dissertation is to quantify the economic benefits of construction project management leveraging BIM and interoperability potential. The ultimate objective of digital construction is to ensure the enrichment of the BIM model created during the design phase and the delivery of the as-built model for the purpose of operation and asset management. The increasing sophistication of construction projects requires extensive analysis and efforts to design new workflows, organisational structures, procedures, and other critical tools for the efficient management of construction activities. BIM is the enabler of seamless interaction between the various stakeholders in a construction project. This explains the urgent need and opens multiple opportunities to devise novel methods for implementing the BIM methodology into construction management practices. The aim of this dissertation is to deepen the theoretical understanding of the content and perspective of the business value of BIM and to elaborate on the current problems and suggesting solutions. To bring evidence to the current situation and the possible way forward, I have conducted market research, desk analysis and expert interviews. A significant amount of data and expertise is kept secret within organisations and projects, preventing it from being exploited to its full potential. There is a need for a long-term, all-encompassing tool that enables conciliation of interoperability performance shortfalls across projects and companies. The BIM model produced during the design phase remains useless in the subsequence phases. Construction professionals use mostly traditional methods, and/or innovative technologies not necessarily based on the BIM model produced by the designers. Therefore, the incorporation of construction project management has lagged behind. The AECO sector has placed a strong emphasis on the project context, but the economics of the transition to a digital environment have been overshadowed. Leveraging open data schemas, logical meta-models supporting construction project management were developed. cost schedule information and time schedule information were given significant care in order to contribute to the development of 4D and 5D BIM. Modifying the existing Model View Definitions (MVD) with each software's native MVD and attempting to make them open source would be a worthwhile economic advantage for the AECO industry at large. To maximise interoperability, openBIM must be reengineered, because the connection and exchange of data between different organisations needs to take place through the OpenAPI Specification (OAS), which enables the connections of all applications capable of communicating with web services. This is a technological level which is much higher than what is known simply as ""openBIM"". This dissertation rejects the ""technocratic optimism"" (BIM hype) which dominates current BIM research and raises important questions about the implications of such a trajectory on the development of analysis. Thus, it encourages the policymakers to redefine the contemporary, very traditional building process. This aims to integrate people, resources, and business practices in order to achieve more efficiency.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF