Global BIM Adoption

Learning Objectives
By completing this lesson, you will be able to:
- Identify which countries are adopting BIM
internationally
Mandates
The following Countries have ‘nationally’ mandated
‘BIM’:
Who When What
USA 2007 GSA projects (design stage only)
Finland 2007 Public sector projects
Norway 2010 Public sector projects
Netherlands 2012 Public sector projects
Dubai 2014 International, large, & specialist projects
Hong Kong 2014 All new housing
Singapore 2015 Large projects
Sweden 2015 Transport projects
South Korea 2016 Public sector projects
UK (England) 2016 Public sector projects
UK (Scotland) 2017 Public sector projects (above £4.32m)
Germany 2020 Transport projects

When discussing the subject of National BIM mandates

most people point to the UK as the first to adopt a
national mandate. In the UK BIM was mandated on all
centrally procured public sector projects from 2016.
However the UK was not the first to instigate such a
mandate. As seen above.
In 2007 both the USA and Finland instigated their own
BIM mandates. In the US it was defined at the design
stage of all GSA projects, while in Finland it applied to
all public sector projects.
In 2010, Norway instigated its mandates for all public
sector projects and similarly the Netherlands in 2012.
2014 saw Dubai instigate a mandate for international,
large and specialist projects and Hong Kong mandated
BIM for all new housing.
From 2015 all large projects form Singapore were
mandated to use BIM while all transport projects were
required to do so in Sweden.
Some countries (such as Denmark) do not have a
national mandate, but have an industry adopting BIM
through a public sector push.
In addition to England, South Korea also mandated the
use of BIM on all public sector projects from 2016.
Looking towards confirmed future mandates, Germany
will mandate the use of BIM on transport projects from
the year 2020.
It is also worth mentioning that the requirements to be
met differ between nations (not all BIM is equal).
In Dubai and for GSA in America the requirements is
that BIM technologies are used, while the UK
requirements include outlining roles and
responsibilities focusing on process as opposed to
tools.

National Guidance
While a number of mandates have been instigated
internationally so to has the number of guidance
documents. These guidance’s differ in the form of
standards, methods and guidance documentation
outlining best practise. Unfortunately as they have
been developed independently it has resulted in a
number of standards meaning there is no current
consensus on a single international BIM standard.

National BIM Organisations

In addition, to facilitate the use of BIM nationally, a
number of BIM specific organisations have been
established. These can include task groups, such as the
UK’s BIM task group and the newly formed European
task group. There are also many BIM specific
organisations which have been formed to deal with
BIM in their respective countries such as the UK’s BIM
task group.
Interestingly, Canada has two.

National Adoption
Much academic research has been done on BIM
adoption showing that there has been a steady
increase in BIM awareness.
For example:
Rajendran & Clarke (2011) reported that in America
around 25% of construction companies use BIM.
Bernstein and Jones (2012) reported that there was a
45% growth in use of BIM in construction from 2009 to
2012 in North America.
Malleson (2013) reported that the awareness of BIM
among construction professionals has been increase
from 13% in 2010 to 31% in 2011 and 39% in 2012.

The figure above shows the number of national

contractors utilising at least 30% of BIM on projects for
the 5 fastest growing countries internationally.

BIM Experience
It is also worth noting that building information
modelling is an emerging process. As such there are
few professionals who identify themselves as having
more than 3 years’ experience in BIM. This means that
on an international basis, we are all just getting started
on our respective BIM journeys.
This level of BIM experience is mirrored in the fact that
similar mandates have been set at the national level.

Currently, there is no accepted international standard

for BIM expertise, as such, any research on the subject
typically evolves around self-described levels of
expertise. Shown here is the self-described level of
expertise for a number of countries. It is interesting to
note that the UK described themselves as having one
of the lower levels of BIM expertise.

Global BIM definition

UK
The reason for this is likely related to the definition of
BIM at an international level. Within the UK, BIM is
defined as a Value creating collaboration, through the
entire lifecycle of an asset, Underpinned by the
creation, collaboration and exchange of shared 3D
models and intelligent structured data attached to
them. Meaning that within the UK the focus is on the
collaboration and information exchange element of
building information modelling.
USA
However within countries such as the USA BIM is
defined as the development and use of a multi-faceted
computer software data model, to not only document
a building design but to simulate the construction and
operation of a new capital facility or a re-capitalised,
modernised facility. As such the focus is much more on
the use of software tools and the end deliverable. This
shows a significant disparity between the two
definitions.
buildingSMART international
In addition, other definitions of BIM exist, such as that
by buildingSMART international which states that BIM
is a digital representation of physical and functional
characteristics of a facility. A building information
model is a shared knowledge resource for information
about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions
during its lifecycle; Defined as existing from earliest
conception to demolition.
With each of these varying definitions it can be
understood why there can be discrepancies in the level
of BIM expertise identified at a national level providing
that a standard definition for BIM wasn’t provided as
part of the survey.

Productivity Benefits
Consistently there are reports of benefits to BIM
adoption including productivity improvements,
reducing material costs, and time on site.
Research on Australia and South Korea have also
identified productivity improvements while data
supplied by dodge data and analytics has identified a
number of productivity benefits.
Australia:
By moving to BIM, it is estimated that productivity
would improve by 6-9% as well as economic benefits
(BEIIC, 2010)
South Korea:
For the Honnam High-speed Railway, BIM delivered
higher productivity while reducing materials, costs,
and times during the construction phase.
Benefits
Internationally 6 key benefits have been identified to
adopt in BIM the top benefit is the enhancement of the
organisations image as an industry leader. Followed by
marketing new business, increased profits, the ability
to offer new services, maintaining repeat business, and
a faster client approval cycle.
Large firms benefit more from the enhanced image and
with more complex projects, faster client’s approval
process is understandably a significant value.
Smaller firms however do not pursue as much new
business therefore show a greater preference in using
BIM to maintain repeat business with their current
clients.