Building Information Modelling: Major Adaptation Barriers in Swedish Bridge Sector

Paper in proceeding, 2011

In the recent years, many researchers and construction industry professionals have been looking into the potentials of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The key advantage of BIM is; it ensures the development of detailed information and analysis at an earlier phase in the construction process. Furthermore, BIM also facilitates decision making, reduce downstream changes and in turn results in better quality, lower costs and timely completion of projects. In this study, Swedish building and bridge sectors are studied to show the extent of current BIM practice and proposals have been extended regarding various methods of expanding its benefits in the Swedish bridge sector by identifying the major barriers in BIM adaptation. Semi-structured interviews with BIM experts supported by literature review are used for the study. The overall analysis of the interviews has led to the conclusion that, building sector is benefiting up to a reasonable extent from BIM and its applicability. Nevertheless, BIM application in the bridge sector and its potential cannot be denied. However, new technologies like BIM are difficult to adopt due to various reasons.