The adoption of building information modelling in industrialised building system

Abstract

The growing demand of housing has prompted the Malaysian construction practitioners to realize the benefits of Industrialised Building System (IBS). Despite its advantages, IBS in Malaysia is plagued partly due to inefficient adoption strategy and lack of awareness among the practitioners. Hence Building Information Modeling (BIM) is introduced to facilitate the life-cycle of the project by eliminating construction inefficiencies. BIM offers a process of re-engineering to enhance the automation in IBS in terms of quality and productivity performance. The aim of the study is to evaluate the BIM functions in relation to Malaysian IBS work process. In order to achieve the aim, the effectiveness of IBS and BIM implementation in Malaysia were identified. The data is collected through interview sessions with IBSBIM practitioners. Data from the interview were analyzed using Content Analysis, summative approach. From the analysis, it was found that there are 4 BIM functions (clash detection, visualization, shop drawing, coordination) which able to cope with 3 IBS work process (initial work, component production and installation). Even though BIM are not fully utilized in every work process, it has shown improvement in terms of quality, time and cost. Moreover, an IBS-BIM implementation framework was formulated through framework analysis. The IBS-BIM framework explained BIM integrated functions in relation to IBS work flow. This study is essential to boost the confidence level of IBS practitioners in enhancing its productivity through the BIM implementation. Also, this framework is crucial to help BIM committee and local authorities in determining implementation strategies to integrate BIM in other construction related industry as well.