Integrating BIM in Construction Dispute Resolution: Development of a Contractual Framework

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM), through its data-rich digital representation of building elements, has revolutionized the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Facilitating the process of its implementation, several legal aspects of BIM have been discussed and standardized in the published contract systems, but legal provisions for dispute resolution through BIM are yet to be established. With more enhanced use of BIM, there is a need for a dedicated protocol for utilizing BIM in construction dispute resolution. This study aims to identify, analyze, and classify the potential legal aspects for integrating BIM into the construction dispute resolution process and thereby determine the corresponding provisions required in BIM-enabled contracts. Potential legal aspects were extracted through an analysis of published literature, including research papers, FIDIC contracts, and standard BIM contract documents. A questionnaire survey involving 140 respondents was conducted from which the 24 identified legal aspects were validated to be incorporated in BIM contracts as contract provisions. The proposed BIM-DRes framework maps the legal aspects and finalized contractual provisions with the phases of a construction project and highlights the main stakeholders associated with or affected by these aspects. The developed framework was further validated by three experts from the construction industry. This research explores this overlooked area and expands the body of knowledge on BIM-based dispute resolution, setting the ground for the extension of BIM-enabled contracts.

ÖNORM B 2203-1 as a Supplement to FIDIC Emerald Book in Conventional Tunnel Construction

“…Previous studies have examined the development of FIDIC contracts [5][6][7][8], highlighting their revisions over time to adapt to the changing needs and challenges of the construction industry. Researchers have also investigated the advantages and challenges associated with FIDIC contracts, addressing topics such as contract administration [9][10][11][12], risk allocation [13,14], dispute resolution mechanisms [15][16][17][18][19][20], and the role of FIDIC in promoting fair and equitable project outcomes. Additionally, some articles have examined case studies and real-world applications of FIDIC contracts [21][22][23][24][25][26], offering insights into their practical implementation, effectiveness, and potential areas for improvement.…”

“…Most existing research addresses the general application of FIDIC contracts, such as comparing national and international construction contracts, e.g., ÖNORM B 2110 and previous FIDIC standards [6]. Furthermore, the predominant emphasis of research in tunnel construction has been on risk management [28][29][30][31][32] and dispute adjudication [20,28,33], overlooking the need for a comprehensive overview of contracts and the specificities of conventional tunnelling. For instance, ref.…”

Innovation and exploration of construction project management based on BIM platform of big data

“…Literature [1][2] applied to engineering examples discusses that the essence of quality control is the quality control of basic construction processes. Literature [3] argues that it is undesirable to pay attention only to the results of the completion acceptance without paying attention to the process control, and it is necessary to control the quality control points before the construction of the project to achieve the role of prevention and to monitor and supervise the whole process during the construction. The literature [4] argues that in construction project management, the engineering quality control and management and assurance system can be realized through the principle of process-based control, and the system has been applied to actual engineering projects to prove its feasibility.…”

“…Analysis of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation result vectorFor each indicator, five levels of rubrics are set, namely[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]V V V V V V == [very good, good, average, poor, very poor], and assigned a value of[5,4,3,2,1] V =…”