Applications of BIM and Hurdles for Widespread Adoption of BIM 2007 AISC-ACCL eConstruction Roundtable Event Report

This report summarizes the presentations, discussions and findings from the 4th eConstruction Roundtable organized by AISC and ACLL. The purpose of the Roundtable was to identify and address process issues with respect to BIM implementation (see Appendix A for the agenda of the Roundtable). It brought together participants from all main parties in the design and construction supply and value chains including, for the first time, representatives from the legal, insurance, and surety sectors (see Appendix B for a list of participants). The first part of this report summarizes the presentations of representatives of the different disciplines of the AEC industry. It summarizes how each of the disciplines are using Building Information Models (BIM) and describes the obstacles to a wider BIM implementation experienced by the participants. The second part describes the insights from a panel discussion and two breakout sessions.
Many participants noted the increasing use of BIM in their disciplines during some project phases. They identified the lack of knowledgeable practitioners who are ready to move the industry into the BIM age as a major bottleneck. Thus, the AEC industry and companies need to establish far reaching education and training programs. Additionally, though the focus of the Roundtable was on process issues with respect to BIM implementation, there are still a number of technological issues that hinder the wider utilization of BIM.