Facilities management’s adoption of building information modelling within the National Health Service

Douglas, Dean; Leon, Marianthi

Abstract

As the UK's National Health Service (NHS) turned 70 years old in 2018, there have been rising questions about its future, while it continues to run a budget deficit. Now faced with doing more with less, it is imperative the NHS finds more efficient ways of working in almost all respects to ensure its longevity. An area where this is particularly true is the way in which it maintains its built assets.
Concurrently, Building Information Modelling (BIM) continues to spur ever greater productivity and efficiency in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries. The information generated and collected during a construction project has the potential, if utilised, to aid in the more cost-effective running of an asset.

This research examines Facilities Management’s (FM) adoption of BIM within the NHS. Assessing the current awareness and understanding of BIM and exploring the barriers to adoption and what could be done to alleviate these issues. The research methodology comprised of; a comprehensive review of literature on the topics, in particular looking at trends in the NHS FM and the wider FM industry's approach towards BIM integration; an online questionnaire distributed to facilities managers in the NHS and other healthcare organisations within the UK; and a series of interviews with Facilities Managers within a number of NHS trusts and Boards as well as prominent advisors to these organisations.

From the research conducted, various issues are discussed that were highlighted as obstacles to BIM adoption. Issues such as; data and information management throughout a building’s lifecycle; the embrace of new technology for the FM; the current organisational hierarchy and structure both in the NHS and its FM departments; the image problem that FM professionals face and the resulting lack of representation in key decision making processes; the availability of investment into the development and adoption of BIM within NHS FM and possible funding options that could incorporate BIM such as Private Finance Initiative (PFI); and the irregular implementation of the UK BIM level 2 Mandate.

In conclusion, while there have been a number of barriers to the adoption of BIM in the NHS FM made apparent during the research, given that the process of implementation is still very much at the early stages, there will still need to be a great deal of research and development carried out on how the NHS Facilities Management and the wider Facilities Management industry will adopt BIM. However, if this is done now then it will allow for the groundwork to be correctly laid down for future implementation.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: Advances in ICT in Design, Construction and Management in Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO)
• Start Date: Sep 18, 2019
• End Date: Sep 20, 2019
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2019
• Online Publication Date: Sep 18, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 18, 2019
• Deposit Date: May 4, 2022
• Pages: 423-433
• Book Title: Advances in ICT in Design, Construction and Management in Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO): Proceedings of the 36th CIB W78 2019 Conference
• ISBN: 9781861354877
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/9210698
• Publisher URL: https://research.tees.ac.uk/en/publications/advances-in-ict-in-design-construction-and-management-in-architec