A framework to assist in the analysis of risks and rewards of adopting BIM for SMEs in the UK

Lam, Thep Thanh; Mahdjoubi, Lamine; Mason, Jim

Abstract

© 2017 The Author(s) Published by VGTU Press and Informa UK Limited, [trading as Taylor & Francis Group]. Building information modelling (BIM) adoption amongst larger construction firms and innovators seems to be on the increase. However, there is evidence to suggest that small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are currently lagging behind and are losing out in winning publicly funded projects. Guidance and frameworks to assist SMEs to make an informed decision about BIM adoption are currently lacking. There has been no systematic effort to date to bring together the results of research in SMEs’ BIM adoption. Consequently, this paper seeks to bridge this gap and provide a conceptual framework to give a theoretical foundation to the study of brokering risks and rewards in the adoption of BIM for project delivery. This framework is comprehensive and includes trading off risks and rewards associated with several criteria, such as stage of involvement, project value, funding, and the procurement route chosen. The approach has been validated by a representative sample of BIM users and the findings of the validation are also presented. The findings of the framework validation reveal that early design stage, project size between £5 m and £50 m, private funding, and integrated project delivery procurement are the best opportunities that enable SMEs to maximise the benefits and minimise the risks, when adopting BIM.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 24, 2016
• Publication Date: Aug 18, 2017
• Deposit Date: Nov 10, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 19, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Civil Engineering and Management
• Print ISSN: 1392-3730
• Electronic ISSN: 1822-3605
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 23
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 740-752
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3846/13923730.2017.1281840
• Keywords: BIM, risk, reward, SMEs, involvement phase, project value, source of funding, procurement route
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/888416
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/13923730.2017.1281840
• Contract Date: Nov 10, 2016