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The advantages of information management through building information modelling

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journal contribution
posted on 2013-04-25, 08:36 authored by Peter DemianPeter Demian, David Walters
As building information modelling (BIM) is positioned by governments and construction professionals as a solution to the problems in the construction industry, research is needed into the benefits BIM actually confers. The focus here is on the effectiveness of BIM as a medium for communicating information within a construction team. A case study of an offsite precast concrete fabrication facility was conducted. At the time of the study, the facility was supplying precast units for four public sector projects, and using four information management systems: e-mail, a construction project extranet tool, an Enterprise Resource Planning system and a new BIM-based system. The flow of information through the four media was measured and visualized as the projects progressed. This quantitative measurement of information flow was combined with qualitative data from interviews with facility staff. It was found that the introduction of the BIM-based system diverted information flow through the building model and away from the extranet system. The use of e-mail was largely unaffected. BIM allowed considerably more accurate, on-time and appropriate exchange of information. It is concluded it is possible to quantify some of the benefits of BIM to information management. This research paves the way for future research into the management of more construction project information linked more closely to building models.

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Citation

DEMIAN, P. and WALTERS, D., 2013. The advantages of information management through building information modelling. Construction Management and Economics, DOI:10.1080/01446193.2013.777754

Publisher

© Taylor & Francis

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publication date

2013

Notes

This article was published in the journal, Construction Management [© Taylor & Francis] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.777754

ISSN

0144-6193

eISSN

1466-433X

Language

  • en