The Business Value of BIM in Australia and New Zealand
The report released by McGraw Hill Construction on the business value of BIM in Australia and New Zealand representing detailed study about the Uses, Impact and Advantages of BIM on construction industries in New Zealand and Australia, is worth reading.
The report reveals that the awareness of BIM is spreading rapidly amongst the Architects, Engineers, Contractors and Owners in New Zealand and Australia recognizing its value, however, the commitment and use of BIM is relatively lower. Experts predict a vigorous growth in a number of BIM users in Australia within the coming years and the reconstruction of Canterbury region in New Zealand, which is valued at $40 billion gives a fair idea about the industrial move towards BIM in the near future.
McGraw Hill Construction conducted an online survey of 435 respondents including engineers, contractors, architects, consultants and building owners across the construction industry in New Zealand and Australia. They further classified the respondents by size of firms including small firms, medium firms and large firms. Later on the respondents were split into their different work types like buildings, infrastructure/industrial, landscape/parks/recreations, mining/minerals, other.
An assessment done on the respondents to evaluate the Involvement of their firm in BIM, predicts that almost two-thirds of the respondents.e. 64% are authoring models and working with models from other parties, while in the case of smaller groups 19% are authoring models and 17% are working with models authored by others.
Out of the firms surveyed, A/E Firms occupies the largest portion of both the categories of authoring models and getting the model authored by other parties. While Contractor dominates the group of working with third-party, giving a boost to BIM Outsourcing.
BIM implementation levels: The report also indicates that the companies, along with the increase in experience and skill levels, also to deepen their level of engagement with BIM and they forecast a dramatic increase in BIM implementation in the future also. Design professionals are the heavy users of BIM that they implement BIM for more than 60% of their projects. The current BIM users of New Zealand and Australia forecast a strong increase in their BIM application in future.
BIM Expertise levels: The respondents were told to classify themselves into one of the four skill levels such as beginner, moderate, advanced or expert. Even though subjective, this self-assessment of skill level reveals that 65% of contractor users and 47% A/E respondents consider themselves to have a beginner or moderate skill levels. The expertise breakdown in BIM users is seen in Australia and New Zealand with only 13% experts.
Importance of BIM Capability: According to the study, around half of the BIM users in Australia and New Zealand encourage BIM expertise while they select a project team or a company. 28% says that they require companies that are experienced in BIM. Most of the respondents consider that working with firms, who are expert in BIM, improves project outcomes and increases quality.
Years of experience using BIM: The study shows that a significant increase is seen in the number of people who have experience of three or more years in BIM. Around 25% of people in Australia are very experienced in BIM.
BIM use and value benefits: The research finds out that majority of the respondents (52%) feel that there is more to be gained from BIM, even though they are getting a lot of value from it.
Top BIM benefits: McGraw Hill Construction’s BIM research classifies the BIM benefits as short-term benefits and long-term benefits. Around 45% of BIM users in New Zealand and Australia experience reduced errors and omissions due to BIM and 27% experience reduced reworkability to work collaboratively with other members. The other short-term benefits of offering new services, marketing new business to new clients, reducing the cycle time of specific workflows etc are also experienced by users, even though less in percentage. As the long-term benefits take time to be proved, thy score lower among users in Australia and New Zealand, who are still in a medium phase of BIM engagement. However, around 15% supports the long-term benefits of reduced overall project duration, maintenance of repeat business with past clients, reduced construction cost etc.
Factors that impact BIM benefits: In the research, BIM users in New Zealand and Australia rated various factors that enhance their benefit of BIM. Around 86% contractors among the respondents support that the factors like the integration of BIM data with mobile device/apps, more use of contracts to support BIM and collaboration, improved functionality of BIM software, more 3D building product manufacturer-specific content and improved interoperability between software applications etc., enhance the benefit of BIM.
Investments in BIM over the next two years: As per the research finding, 40% of all non-users believe that BIM will have a high or very high importance in five years. While 36% of contractors predict high importance for BIM, 42% of A/E firms predict moderate importance to it.
Factors that delay use of BIM: 92% A/E non-users believe that BIM is not appropriate for smaller projects, while 59% contractors consider that requirement of more training time is the reason for delaying the use of BIM.
An important factor that encourages BIM adoption: The study asked the non-users to identify the most important factor that would encourage them to use BIM. Demand from a client, mandatory by the government, cost savings, integration and standards are the top factors that most non-users chose. More than 10% of respondents support each of these factors.
Top BIM activities: The study also analyses the top BIM activities in Australia and New Zealand in each stage like design and Pre-construction, construction and post-construction.
The report also includes several case studies and interviews that McGraw Hill Construction did as a part of the research.
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References:
Retrieved from McGraw Hill Construction, 2014: Business Value of BIM in Australia & New Zealand – McGraw Hill Report