*Corresponding Author, email: dat.doan@aut.ac.nz
Examining Critical Perspectives on Building Information Modelling (BIM)
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Adoption in New Zealand
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Dat Tien DOAN
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, Ali GHAFFARIANHOSEINI, Nicola NAISMITH, Amirhosein
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GHAFFARIANHOSEINI, Tongrui ZHANG, John TOOKEY
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Department of Built Environment Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, 34 St Paul Street,
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Auckland Central, Auckland 1010, New Zealand. Email: dat.doan@aut.ac.nz
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Abstract
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Purpose
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This research aims to explore the perspectives of the key actors in the New Zealand
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construction industry towards BIM adoption. Specifically, four themes are examined, including
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what BIM is; BIM knowledge and understanding; benefits of BIM adoption; and
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challenges/barriers to BIM adoption.
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Design/methodology/approach
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A qualitative approach using 21 semi-structured interviews with industry experts was adopted.
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Findings
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The results raise a question concerning whether the New Zealand construction industry needs
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a unique definition of BIM to achieve a clear and consistent understanding amongst
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construction practitioners. It was found out that most of the construction practitioners in New
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Zealand are not well-aware of BIM, especially the contractors, QSs, supply chain companies,
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and the SMEs. Fourteen potential benefits and ten barriers/challenges to BIM adoption were
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identified. Individually, time-saving was considered as the most benefit of BIM adoption.
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While BIM understanding was suggested as the most significant barrier by all the interviewees.
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Originality/value
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The research provides valuable insights into BIM understanding as well as recommendations
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regarding BIM adoption in New Zealand. The results could be considered baseline information
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for the companies and government to have effective strategies towards BIM adoption.
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Furthermore, it confirms that characteristics such as benefits and barriers to BIM adoption
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amongst different countries could be similar. Therefore, it could be useful to analyse the
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studies, strategies, and practices of the pioneer countries in BIM adoption for the
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implementation.
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Keywords: BIM; Building Information Modelling; Building Information Management;
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sustainability; mandate; New Zealand
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1 Introduction
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An intense interest in BIM, which is generally defined as Building Information Modelling
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(Mordue et al., 2015), has been developed because of its potential benefits to the construction
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industry. The construction industry is still amongst the lowest sectors in innovation (Kenley et
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al., 2016, Wilkinson and Jupp, 2016). With BIM implementation, extensive changes can occur
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that enhance performance on construction projects during the entire lifecycle (Ryan et al.,
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2013). The benefits of BIM adoption to the construction industry have been researched. Nine
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main benefits were identified by Newton and Chileshe (2012) in South Australia, while 18 BIM
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drivers were pointed out by Eadie et al. (2013b). Also, Ghaffarianhoseini et al. (2017) divided
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benefits of BIM adoption into 9 groups offering a wide range of transparent and current
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benefits. Besides, 35 cases using BIM in 8 different countries were investigated to determine
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the BIM impacts on the results of the projects (Bryde et al., 2013). Because of its benefits,
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BIM implementation has come high on the agenda in many countries. For example, BIM has
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been mandated for all public sector buildings or government projects in Finland, Norway,
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Denmark, Netherlands, and the UK (Smith, 2014b).
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Despite the increased global interest in BIM development, BIM adoption in New Zealand is
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still in its early stages with low uptake levels (Miller et al., 2013) and insufficient attention
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from researchers (Amor et al., 2007), leading to a very few BIM publications. Based on the
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Scopus database, only four journal papers mentioning BIM in New Zealand are available with
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the keywords (“BIM” + “New Zealand”) limited to the engineer area and journals type.
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However, BIM as a key topic was researched in two papers (Davies et al., 2017, Harrison and
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Thurnell, 2015). Harrison and Thurnell (2015) examined the potential effect of BIM
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implementation on quantity surveyors (QS) in the use of 5D BIM. Whereas, factors leading to
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“hybrid practice in BIM” in Australia and New Zealand were identified by Davies et al. (2017).
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Davies et al. (2017) did not separate the results of BIM practice between Australia and New
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Zealand. Furthermore, attempts are being made to enhance BIM uptake in New Zealand, such
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as the BIM Acceleration Committee, established as the driving force towards BIM adoption
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(BAC, 2018a), or the National BIM Education Working Group, formed with the involvement
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of nine fundamental construction tertiary educators to deliver the future workforce possessing
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adequate BIM skills (BAC, 2018b). It is also noticed that studies from non-high quality sources
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may provide inappropriate results for the New Zealand context. Doan et al. (2019) indicated
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the inappropriate results of the New Zealand BIM survey to the current practice of BIM in the
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New Zealand construction industry. In other words, there is a need for further research on BIM
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adoption in the New Zealand context.
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This paper aims to identify and explore the perspectives of the key stakeholders in the New
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Zealand construction industry towards BIM adoption. Four different themes were examined,
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including: what is BIM?; BIM knowledge and understanding; the benefits of BIM adoption;
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and the challenges/barriers associated with BIM adoption. Based on the results, further
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discussion is presented, while the solutions for BIM adoption in New Zealand are implied from
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the revealed challenges/barriers to BIM adoption. The paper provides valuable insights into
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BIM understanding as well as recommendations regarding BIM adoption. The next section
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describes the methods used for data collection and the analysis process.
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2. Research Methodology
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A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was used to explore the BIM
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perspectives of a wide range of industry participants who have been identified as key actors in
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the New Zealand construction industry. This approach was appropriate as it provides “deep,
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rich observational data” (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2005, Sieber, 1973). Also, gaining
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familiarity with the topic and generating insights for future research could be achieved with the
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qualitative approach (Scott, 1965, Eisenhardt, 1989, Haussner et al., 2018). Reliable and
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comparable qualitative data is gained through semi-structured interviews allowing respondents
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to freely engage in sharing their views in their terms (Cohen and Crabtree, 2006, Harrell and
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Bradley, 2009).
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A combination of two different sampling methods was used to recruit the participants, see
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Figure 1. Firstly, purposive sampling was applied to ensure the desirable criteria, in which the
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interviewees have to be working in the construction industry for at least five years and have
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been involved in BIM projects and/or Green Star projects in New Zealand. Due to the shortage
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of BIM specialists in the New Zealand construction industry, snowball sampling was adopted
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next to identify key stakeholders. Multiple sampling techniques are not uncommon in
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qualitative studies (Teddlie and Yu, 2007, Tongco, 2007). The LinkedIn source was used to
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approach the initial interviewees because it is a powerful professional networking tool
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providing an extensive database of business professionals (Albrecht, 2011, Schneiderman,
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2016). Then, suggestions were provided by them to locate further participants.
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[Insert Figure 1]
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Figure 1. Interviewee recruitment process
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The interviews were conducted between November and December 2017. This included 19 face-
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to-face interviews and 3 telephone interviews with a total of 26 interviewees coming from a
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range of sectors; all of them are considered as experts in the construction industry in terms of
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their position held and length of time working within the industry, see Table 1. It is noted that
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the interviews 6, 12, 13, and 20 were conducted with two interviewees each, which were
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recommended by the corresponding interviewees. The sample size is considered appropriate
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compared to the nature of qualitative research supported by the following studies. According
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to Galvin (2015) and Guest et al. (2006), 12 interviews are sufficient to achieve saturation,
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while Crouch and McKenzie (2006) research is less than 20 and 15±10 for Kvale and
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Brinkmann (2009)’s. Furthermore, previous qualitative studies were also published with
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similar sample sizes in the construction field (Sacilotto and Loosemore, 2018, Hurlimann et
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al., 2018).
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Table 1. Interviewees demographics
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[Insert Table 1]
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The interviewees came from 21 different companies, 17 large and 4 small and medium
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companies. The New Zealand Ministries (MBIE, 2017, MED, 2011) defines large enterprises
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as having a total number of employees equal to or higher than 20, and small and medium-sized
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enterprises (SMEs) have less than 20 employees. Table 1 demonstrates a wide variety of
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organisational types including design companies, contractor companies, consultancy
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companies, 1 information technology company, 1 non-profit organisation, and 2
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