Black boxing BIM: the public client’s strategy in BIM implementation

Abstract

Building information modelling (BIM) is widely discussed in both industry and academia and studies have argued that public clients play an important role in industry's implementation of BIM. While public client initiatives have gained much interest in previous research, there is still a lack of knowledge exploring the public clients' role and choice of strategies when implementing BIM with the aim to change industry. Based on a case study of BIM implementation at the largest infrastructure client in Sweden, this paper applies the theory sociology of translation to explore the role of the public client as a driver for industry change and the strategy used during this process. The case study shows how the public client tries to influence its own organization and the construction industry as a whole. Findings show that the main strategy for enrolling actors to implement BIM is to demand its use in the procurement of all construction projects, thereby attempting to establish the BIM issue as a Black Box. A Black Box, a locked network element, which includes associated inscriptions aimed at prescribing BIM use in projects conducted by this client. The acceptance of this Black Box has however been problematic, resulting in a diverse influence on the demand for BIM in procured construction projects.

Public clients ability to drive industry change: the case of implementing BIM

“…Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its influence on change and innovation in the construction industry is increasingly addressed in construction research and industry practice (Succar 2009, Linderoth 2010, Wong et al 2010, Vass and Karrbom Gustavsson 2017, Lindblad 2018). There are different definitions of BIM and one of the most commonly used definitions is provided by Succar (2009, p. 357).…”

“…Through the concept of absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal 1990), we explore clients' ability to recognise external BIM related knowledge, and their ability to absorb and apply this knowledge in order to drive industry change. Implications address the on-going discussion by Havenvid et al (2016) and others on clients as drivers of change and innovation, and combine that with the discussion by Linderoth (2010), Lindblad (2018), (Bosch-Sijtsema et al 2017), Vass and Karrbom Gustavsson (2017) and others on BIM as construction industry game changer.…”

“…Cherns and Bryant (1984), as well as Havenvid et al (2016), argue that the client's role as driver for change and innovation in construction tends to be oversimplified as well as underexplored, and argue for further investigation into the client's role and ability for driving construction industry change. Recent research also found that the client's role as driver for industry change through the implementation of BIM is challenging (Bosch-Sijtsema et al 2017, Vass and Karrbom Gustavsson 2017, Lindblad 2018. Hence, there is a need for additional studies analysing the impact or effect of public client's policy actions (Kassem and Succar 2017) and for exploring the client's ability to drive industry change.…”

Interrelations among Leadership Competencies of BIM Leaders: A Fuzzy DEMATEL-ANP Approach

“…However, the managerial group had the highest value of (D + R) among all groups, which means that the managerial competencies are more related to the whole competency profile of a BIM practitioner. BIM implementation influences work practices and relationships between practitioners, which demands high level managerial competencies in BIM leaders [82]. For executing BIM projects, leaders must manage two main requirements: managing the employer information requirement (EIR) and validating outcomes [83].…”

Client’s role in promoting BIM implementation and innovation in construction

“…The STA purposefully promotes the use of BIM in projects they conduct in order to drive industry adoption. However, earlier studies of the BIM initiative at the STA has indicated difficulties for clients to act as change agents when promoting BIM (Lindblad 2018) and highlighted difficulties in establishing intra-organisational acceptance for a change towards BIM (Lindblad and Karrbom Gustavsson 2017). In addition to promoting BIM, the STA has started an initiative to; more generally, promote innovation in the industry, the "Professional Client" initiative.…”