Understanding and facilitating BIM adoption in the AEC industry

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the important areas in current Virtual Reality (VR) research. VR research considers not only the technological development, a very important part of the research also concerns the application of the technologies and their adoption by the practices. This paper firstly presents an analysis of the current state of BIM in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry and a re-assessment of its role and potential contribution in the near future. The paper analyses the readiness of the industry with respect to the (1) product, (2) processes and (3) people, to position BIM adoption in terms of current status and expectations across disciplines. The findings indicate that there were both technical and non-technical issues that need consideration. The evidence also suggests that there are varying levels of adoption and therefore the need for a specific tool to facilitate BIM adoption. The study revealed that even the market leaders who are early technology adopters in the Australian industry in many cases have varying degrees of practical experiential knowledge of BIM and hence at times different understandings and different levels of confidence regarding the future diffusion of BIM technology throughout the industry. There have been numerous factors affecting BIM adoption, which can be grouped into two main areas: technical tool functional requirements and needs, and non-technical strategic issues. There are varying levels of adoption and understanding within countries — from discipline to discipline and client to client. There are also varying levels of adoption from country to country and although many researchers and practitioners espouse collaborative working environments there are still challenges to be met in many parts of the world, particularly, in relation to a fully integrated collaborative multidisciplinary mode of operation. The challenges for the research community lie not only in addressing the technical solutions or addressing human centred issues but it is also in creating the enabling environment of a decision framework, which integrates both the technical and non-technical challenges. The need for guidance on where to start, what tools are available and how to work through the legal, procurement and cultural challenges was evidenced in the exploratory study. Therefore the Collaborative BIM Decision Framework has been initiated to facilitate the BIM adoption in the AEC industry, based upon these industry concerns, which consists of four interrelated key elements. The findings are drawn from a major research project funded by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC-CI), with a focus on the Australian context.     

Changing collaborative practices through cultural interventions

After a parliamentary enquiry into construction industry malpractice, changes occurred in collaborative practices between clients and contractors in megaprojects within the Dutch construction sector. The enquiry meant that both clients and contractors were forced to acknowledge illegal practices of collusion and fraud. For those engaged in public–private relationships, a process followed of attempting to change collaborative practices. Three interventions in collaborative practices are recounted: (1) organizing personal networks between clients and contractors; (2) a competitive dialogue procedure; and (3) the right of withdrawal. These three interventions helped to change ‘first order’ practice, such as increasing mutual trust between client and contractor, supporting a mutual understanding of role positioning and dilemmas, and creating an understanding of the nature of the conflict but failed to change ‘second order’ practices. Two contributions to the understanding of project management are provided. New empirical data are presented on the challenges that public and private partners face in their attempt to implement new collaborative practices. It is shown how power is entangled in the emerging of new collaborative practices. The findings are based on a longitudinal ethnographic study of public–private collaboration in the Dutch construction industry in the period 2006–11.     

Manufacturing Performance

The use of rapid prototyping to produce scale models has in recent years become commonplace in architectural practices and universities. Employing such layer manufacturing processes at the scale of construction opens up entirely new possibilities for articulating and manufacturing a performative built environment. Achim Menges discusses Freeform Construction, a collaborative effort between Loughborough University's Civil & Building Engineering Department and Loughborough's Wolfson School of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering to develop construction-scale rapid manufacturing processes. Crossing conventional boundaries of the manufacturing domain, the research is not only concerned with developing new modes of production, but also contributes to establishing an alternative approach for designing performative architecture where form, material, structure and performance are understood as inherently related and integral aspects of the manufacturing and construction process. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

建筑企业项目管理创新研究与实践

我国的经济发展已经从战略上转移到自主创新的轨道上,目前,各个地区各行业都将走自主创新道路视为自己发展的灵魂,自主创新已经成为经济领域发展的一个大趋势。在建筑业,面对日益激烈的市场竞争,企业要想做大做强,只有通过项目管理创新,提升管理模式,完善科学的管理理念和管理制度,从而实现企业内部资源优化配置和最佳效益来提高竞争力。从建筑企业项目管理创新面临的形势、管理创新的原则和指导思想、管理创新的具体内容等方面对建筑企业的项目管理创新做了阐述,并结合武汉建工项目管理创新实践提出了相应的建议。     

Emotional intelligence and British expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment in international construction projects

Today’s internationalized business demands global mindset, intercultural sensitivity and the ability to skilfully negotiate through cross-cultural interactions. Therefore, the overall aim was to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Specifically, the causal relationship between EI and three facets of CCA i.e. work, general and interaction adjustment was explored. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted. These include extensive review of existing literature, eighteen unstructured interviews, and questionnaire survey of 191 British expatriates operating in 29 different countries from the four regions under investigation. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the causal relationship between EI and CCA. Results show that EI accounted for 91, 64 and 24% of the variance in work, interaction and general adjustment respectively. Overall, the model was able to explain 60% variance in CCA, suggesting that EI competencies play a huge role in facilitating an expatriate understand and adapt to host country culture. The findings would help decision-makers (HR managers) during expatriate selection process, in understanding that along with technical skills, it is the emotional competencies that are crucial in assisting expatriates adjust to foreign way of life.     

Quality practices in design organizations

Design organizations play a major role in the construction industry: they are the media that transfer the requirements of the client to the contractor and ensure that they are met. Thus they need to provide a high quality of service to ensure that their client's project achieves the best possible standards of cost, time and quality. Seventy quality practices (QP) were identified as having a bearing on the quality of service provided by the local design organizations. These quality practices were grouped into fifteen sections termed quality sections (QS). The prevalence of these practices among the local design organizations was surveyed and determined. The results indicate a significant need for improvement in the quality sections ‘working relationship’, ‘employee training and education’, and ‘performance quality audit’. The study reveals the need for the establishment of a design code, and evaluation standards for local design organizations.     

Building information modelling framework: A research and delivery foundation for industry stakeholders

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an expansive knowledge domain within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) industry. To allow a systematic investigation of BIM's divergent fields, its knowledge components must be defined and expanding boundaries delineated. This paper explores some of the publicly available international guidelines and introduces the BIM Framework, a research and delivery foundation for industry stakeholders. This is a ‘scene-setting’ paper identifying many conceptual parts (fields, stages, steps and lenses), providing examples of their application and listing some of the Framework's deliverables. This paper also identifies and deploys visual knowledge models and a specialised ontology to represent domain concepts and their relations.     

高职土建类专业施工测量能力培养方法探索

结合《建筑工程测量》课程的教学实践,从课程设置、教学设计和理念、教学内容的选取和组织、教学内容的改革、考核方法的改革等方面对高职土建类专业学生施工测量能力培养方法进行了探索,以提高学生的测量技能。     

‘But that is a systems solution to me’ – negotiations in IT design

In this paper we argue that it is not self-evident how ‘requirements’ are defined, but that ‘requirements’ are enacted differently by differently situated actors, and that this has consequences in design practices. The purpose of the paper is to explore the consequences of prototyping practices in a local IT design project. The empirical material was gathered through the use of ethnographic methods, and analysed diffractively. Graphical user interface prototypes were tools for formulating business requirements in a business process analysis. Through a reading of a discussion which took place in a work meeting about the prototypes, we discuss how business requirements were enacted. This is discussed in relation to divergent and convergent approaches in IT design. One consequence was a risk that the prototyping process moved too fast to solutions, and another was the risk that the business process analysis method reproduced the dominant story of women's absence in IT design.     

Is construction an industry?

There has been a frequent misconception in analyses of construction sectors of the national economy: the tendency to describe these activities as ‘an industry’ or a small and stable set of ‘industries’. This has led to confusion. Construction was inappropriately assimilated to various forms of manufacturing industry. Characteristics of the construction process were treated as ‘problems’, to whose solution substantial energies were unnecessarily diverted. There has been muddle about the extent to which macro-level planning is appropriate, notably on R&D strategies and innovation for improved industrial efficiency. Construction projects increasingly use unfamiliar technological bases, comparable to ‘technology fusion’ in other sectors. A more fruitful emphasis may be to regard construction as organized as agglomerations of projects - rather than as a discrete industry or a fixed constellation of firms. The idea of the ‘demand chain’ is introduced.

The paper concludes that a ‘technological paradigm’ should replace the ‘industry paradigm’ and that an enduring question remains to explore what is meant by construction ‘capacity’.     

跨越时空的中外建筑设计合作

中外合作设计随着改革开放的广度，深度，建设发展的速度，经历了：探索，求实，规范，发展的过程。本文通过上海建筑设计研究院与作者本人的许多项目合作实践，来说明上海的中上合作设计是历史赋予上海的机遇。实践已证明，它有力地促进了中国建筑设计水平的提高，特别是单位与建筑师的整体与群体水平。     

建筑协同设计与Internet的潜力

建筑项目涉及众多复杂的事物．协同设计作为有效应对信息时代的工作方式．应当引起重视。通过分析Internet信息传播的特点并介绍相关应用技术．探讨利用Internet等现有资源以及低成本技术构建建筑项目协同设计环境的可能性。     

The commercial currency of construction framework agreements

A critique is presented of construction client–main contractor framework agreements. In the midst of an unpredictable and volatile construction environment, the commercial currency of collaborative working practice, and by extension framework agreements, is being put under increasing management scrutiny. Drawing on a literature review, the guiding principles of framework agreements are examined. A dramatic downturn in construction demand has created considerable surplus in supply. Under such conditions the buyer–supplier interdependencies become imbalanced and commercial relationships fraught. Reports by construction industry analysts demonstrate a number of private sector clients rejecting framework agreements in favour of traditional competitive procurement practices. Drawing upon a neoclassical lens, three guiding principles embedded within economic orthodoxy are employed to examine business-to-business tensions within construction framework agreements, namely, individualism, instrumentalism and equilibrium. This neoclassical interpretation of construction framework agreements reveals a potential relational management bias within mainstream rhetoric. Notably, providing a complementary account of framework agreements practice should not be construed as a rejection of collaborative working practices. An alternative account of framework agreements is presented that does not rely upon the mainstream behavioural model of contemporary contracting.     

A review of contractor selection practice in the U.K. construction industry

Background, prime influences upon present day methods and current trends in United Kingdom tendering practices are reviewed. Significant weaknesses are identified, confirming the need for some revision of existing contractor selection methods. The findings compliment recommendations of the recent government/industry review of the construction sector headed by Sir Michael Latham. Specifically, that tendering procedure should embrace investigation of contractors' potential to deliver a service of acceptable standard, on time, within budget. Present selection methods often fail in this objective, being inclined to discriminate predominantly on cost.     

行业协会在建筑行业信用建设中的探索与实践

文章分析了建筑行业信用体系建设对于促进建筑业健康可持续发展、建立健全社会信用体系、构建和谐社会具有的重要意义。研究了中国建筑业协会在行业信用体系建设中所作出的卓有成效的努力,以及信用评价工作的具体做法、内容和程序,总结了信用评价工作中积累的有益经验。     

拾珠揀玉 承前启后

由北京土木建筑学会、北京城建技协古建园林组、北京市东城区土木建筑学会、北京市第二房屋修缮工程公司五个单位联合筹办的《古建园林技术》期刊,终于和广大读者见面了。这是古建园林事业中一件很有意义的工作,是从事这一工作的同志们十分需要与欢迎的。     

Managing professional jurisdiction and domestic energy use

ABSTRACT

Professionals involved in organizing and undertaking domestic works, such as extensions, maintenance and refurbishment, have an important role in influencing how homes are configured and how occupants live within them. Despite this, the professional identities of these actors, and their impact on domestic energy use, is often overlooked. In response, this paper argues that one useful way of examining their influence is to consider how professional identities shape everyday working practices in relation to clients. Data from two UK interview and observation studies are combined: one with heating installers and the other with architects. The data are analysed using concepts from Abbott’s ‘system of professions’ framework that focuses on how the routine working practices of professional groups are born of how they see themselves and the tasks for which they are responsible. This comparison provides insights into how these two groups manage their professional ‘jurisdictions’ during their client interactions and what this means for policy-makers and industry representatives hoping to influence their work in pursuit of less carbon-intensive living. It also points to the value of further in-depth studies that explore how the routine management of professional jurisdiction impacts upon domestic energy use in a range of contexts.     

A theoretical framework of a BIM-based multi-disciplinary collaboration platform

Most complex projects in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries involve multi-disciplinary collaboration and the exchange of large building data set. Traditionally, the collaboration efforts across the disciplines have been based on the frequent exchange of 2D drawings and documents. However, during the past decade, the widespread adoption of object-oriented Computer-aided Design (CAD) tools has generated more interests in Building Information Modelling (BIM). A number of BIM-compliant applications such as analysis tools, model checkers and facility management applications are being developed. This paper develops a theoretical framework of technical requirements for using BIM-server as a multi-disciplinary collaboration platform. The methodologies that are used to develop the framework include focus group interviews (FGIs) with representatives from the diverse AEC disciplines, a case study of an Architectural project using a state-of-the-art BIM-server, and a critical review and analysis of current collaboration platforms that are available to the AEC industries. This paper concludes that greater emphasis should be placed on supporting technical requirements to facilitate technology management and implementation across disciplines. Their implications for user-centric technology development in design and construction industry are also discussed.