Article

Hector Martin, Queen's University Belfast; Aaron Anil Chadee ,University of the West Indies; Kiran Tota Mahraj ,Quuens University Belfast; Preeya Monilal ,University of the West Indies; Kailas Banerjee ,University of the West Indies

This research topic will focus on the impact that BIM (Building Information Modelling) has provided in the construction industry whilst exploring the origin of BIM, the advantages of the tool, the opinions on BIM, and many more topics. This study will prove that BIM is beneficial to all relevant construction practitioners and why it has become a mandatory practice to follow in the industry in the United Kingdom (UK). The paper indicates how BIM has been overlooked within the construction industry and that many people are not aware of the benefits of BIM. This is concerning as BIM has recently become mandatory for large government projects and still, there is a large percentage of industry professionals who have chosen to ignore the tool, mainly due to lack of knowledge. This research will explore how BIM can contribute to one of the largest industries in the UK thereby making it more efficient in every aspect throughout a construction project life cycle. Evidence from this study shows that there are construction companies, currently active in the field, who have chosen not to expose their staff to BIM-related training. This is distressing as the tool has been proven to bring a positive change to most aspects of a project.