BIM+ magazine publishes BIM Academy project research findings on BIM maturity
A recent research project, which BIM Academy undertook with Northumbria University, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and HKA, has been featured in BIM+ magazine, where some of the research findings have been released.
by BIM Academy | April 16, 2020 | 2 min read
The project was led by Northumbria University’s Associate Professor Mohamad Kassem, who also led the authoring of the report with Jennifer Li, with the support of Professor Bimal Kumar and Richard Watson, plus Adrian Malleson of RIBA, Dr David-John Gibbs of HKA and BIM Academy Director Dr Graham Kelly.
The report, which was commissioned by the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) in partnership with the UK BIM Alliance, found that there is a lack of effective tools for assessing BIM maturity, or for evaluating its benefits.
The report’s authors examined 25 different ways of evaluating BIM maturity and benefits available to industry. This included 15 maturity tools, four “maturity” methods for organisations and projects, and six benefits tools.
The report recommended that a framework be developed for maturity assessment tools, aligned with the ISO 19650 series, to ensure a common approach.
The study found that BIM benefits evaluation tools have value in helping to promote BIM and encourage collaborative working but recommended that these tools be extended to look at benefits throughout the whole supply chain.
With the launch of the ISO 19650 series in 2018, CDBB decided it was a sensible time to review the various tools used for assessing BIM maturity and measuring BIM benefits, to understand what the gaps were.
The survey identified several positive reasons for measuring BIM maturity, including that it helps organisations identify their BIM implementation challenges and develop improvement strategies.
As with maturity assessment tools, the report found that BIM benefits evaluation tools are not commonly used. Just 16% of survey respondents used a tool to measure BIM benefits, with 35% saying they measure benefits without a tool, and 49% saying they do not measure benefits at all.
Dr Graham Kelly commented: “BIM Academy’s role on the project was to organise and facilitate the industry workshops. We brought together experts from over 30 organisations who collaborated to provide their experiences in measuring BIM maturity and benefits. It was a fascinating insight into how different organisations are measuring both benefits and maturity. The key take home message for me was that there is still a need for a robust and simple method of measurement that aligns with industry standards.”
