Change management for adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the construction industry

For construction works, right information shall be provided and received by the right parties at the right time. However, in reality, such precise information flow has not been achieved in all projects, resulting in deficiency in the overall performance efficiency. Such pitfalls in information flow in the construction industry have been in existence for long but seem inevitable.

A lot of literature have advocated that the adoption of BIM would be beneficial in various aspects. One of them is its capability in information integration, thus leading to the reduction in information flow problems in the industry. However, while BIM applications have already been used in the private sector of Hong Kong for over a decade, the pace in adopting BIM by the entire industry is still not satisfactory, even after the mandatory adoption by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Construction industry is one of the most significant industries in Hong Kong. In the past several years, the average total value of construction works is about HK$148,200 million (around GBP 14,820 million) per year, at 6% of the GDP. It is one of the major elements in financial aspects and any changes in its performance efficiency would have substantial cost impact and effect on the economy. With the passion to contribute to the construction industry on improvements of the processes, the objectives of the research project are set to review and identify the change factors affecting BIM adoption processes, to examine and reveal how they could facilitate the construction industry to reap the benefits. To achieve the objectives, a Change Management Framework, backed by the results of the research findings and supplemented with recommended way forward in a structured approach, would be developed to enable users to proceed with effective and efficient BIM implementation processes.

The research processes start with secondary research by literature reviews to identify the factors affecting the implementation processes. Technological factors related to construction technology and management, as well as non-technological factors, such as those related to cultural and organisational developments, that would have influence upon BIM adoptions are covered in the review. Concepts and theories related to change models and management approaches have also been studied to underpin the researcher’s capabilities.

Change factors for BIM implementations are of complexity and complicated in nature. For this, a change factor analysis approach is developed to enable structured analysis of the findings. The analysed findings are reviewed and transformed into meaningful and useful information for further use in the primary research, which consist of analysis of organisational change factors, and the advice obtained from interviews with BIM experts.

The tasks for achieving the research objectives, including the review on factors influencing BIM implementation and establishment of the Change Management Framework, have been completed. Users’ guideline incorporated with step-by-step notes on the Framework setup and how would it be used to achieve the desired objectives has also been prepared. A case study with a trial run of the Framework has been conducted and the outcome proves that the Framework is ready for being used is able to serve the intended capabilities.

As one of the major contributions of this research project, the structured approach developed for identification and analysis of change factors, and the application of force effects on influence powers being imposed by the various factors have enabled the identification of the source, nature and impact of the change factors in a holistic manner. By using this approach, despite the complexity nature of the construction industry, all-rounded analysis and identification of change factors, which is essential for BIM implementations, could be identified effectively.

In addition to the original target of facilitating users to proceed with BIM implementation processes, another contribution of the Change Management Framework is the capability introduced in blending of the technological and non-technological aspects. With such capabilities, the Framework would also enable users to implement the changes for other new technologies or processes, in an effective and efficient manner.

For future research, the established Framework could be extended to cover comparisons cross organisation or regions, and to form a base for research on change factors in a global manner. Results derived from the extended Framework and further research could be used to formulate appropriate benchmark indices and platform to facilitate effective implementations of Building Information Modelling world-wide.

In conclusion, the process of studying and researching, as a professional worker and a student at the University, has offered me a platform to gain more insights both in the academic as well as the professional world. In turn it has made the researcher looking at the work’s issues not as unsolvable problems but as challenges that require cooperation, productive partnerships, and the acquisition of solutions.