BIM Adoption around the World

BIM is an intelligent process in construction and planning that is rolling out across the globe. This 3D model-based process gives architects, builders, engineers, and other construction professionals the ability to work more efficiently and effectively. This covers planning phases as well as managing buildings and infrastructure.

BIM is being adopted by countries in different ways and at different levels. Let’s take a look at how the BIM process is being implemented around the world.

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a world leader when it comes to BIM. In fact, the UK government has mandated BIM in every government construction project. This means that only companies that are BIM level 2 compliant are able to take on government projects. Any project that is funded by the central government is required to produce collaborative 3D BIM.

It is this massive push from the government that the adoption of BIM processes has become so popular around the UK. It has seen a massive shift towards BIM, with some of the highest year-on-year growth patterns for its adoption.

While BIM is mostly popular among large companies and projects, it is becoming apparent within smaller organisations too. BIM seems to be the future of construction in the UK, and it is being recognised and adopted at a rapid scale.

Europe

It is important to look at the EU as a whole when it comes to the implementation of BIM. This is because the EU realises that creating standardised practices and collaborating across borders will help to drive this process across different countries.

Europe is another key player in the global BIM movement. There is a definite movement towards creating a balanced understanding of the practice.

As the EU is such a tight-knit set of countries, having a singular understanding of the process makes sense. However, expansion and a consistent drive for the implementation of BIM is being seen across the region.

France

The French government launched a research and development program in construction to help develop BIM standards within infrastructure development. This then led to a standardised French BIM roadmap as well as the country mandating BIM.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands also has one of the highest BIM adoption rates in the world. There are a number of standard practices and protocols set in place here. There are some major public clients that are responsible for the adoption and growth of the Netherlands BIM push.

Read our article about BIM Adoption in Benelux.

Germany

Germany is another country that has developed a national BIM strategy. This has been done through standardising processes and advocating for BIM as a mandatory procedure in public infrastructure projects.

Read our article about BIM Adoption in the DACH region.

Scandinavian Countries

The Scandinavian countries, like Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, have also placed emphasis on BIM practices. The adoption in Sweden is particularly high. Several guides on the best practices have already been published. Denmark has BIM mandates for state clients and their universities are teaching BIM to students.

Read our article about BIM Adoption in the Nordics.

Other

Other European countries worth mentioning in the BIM discussion would be Spain, Norway, Austria and Italy. These are all places that understand the value of BIM and are working on rapid growth and promotion of the process. This is mostly being driven by governments and public projects within these countries.

Singapore

BIM is a key technology used in Singapore. With a focus on developing a smart nation, Singapore sees the benefits of using BIM in construction. To promote the use of BIM, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) made it compulsory to submit BIM plans to get regulatory approval.

India

While India has one of the world’s fastest-growing construction sectors, it has been slow to adopt BIM. In recent years, India has started to recognise the advantages and cost-effectiveness of BIM and has started to implement it at the design level.

The USA

BIM implementation in the US is simply based between contractor and client as there are no government mandates for its use. Although, the US General Services Administration (GSA) has had a program in place since 2003 for the use of BIM in Public Buildings Service projects.

Some large institutions in the US are making use of BIM to design, construct and manage their facilities. One example of this is the US Navy. They are the first federal government agency to use BIM for electronic operation of their facilities. Another example is the US Army in which the Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) standard was developed to manage information assets.

With rapid technological innovations and some incredible BIM usage in the states, this is definitely a country that shows massive growth potential in this area.

China

Although, as China is a large country, there is still a lot of room for BIM to grow and become standardised across the board. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD) has been working on growing BIM technologies and implementing the process more and more since 2001.

China has seen the value and potential of BIM, now it just needs to start increasing its adoption nationwide. For example, Hong Kong has an incredible BIM adoption rate and is comparable to the UK in terms of its BIM standards.

Australia

Australia certainly shows an interest in the technology-based approach to construction and development. The country has seen a rise in the BIM process for public infrastructure projects, as well as in the private sector.

Australia’s main issue is that there is no standardised method or consistency in the BIM practices used. This has to lead to different levels of BIM adoption in different areas of the country.

Final Thoughts about BIM adoption around the world

Utilising the latest technology can offer huge amounts of value to all kinds of industries. Within the broad field of construction, BIM is there to help improve and streamline the process. This can be utilised by different professionals that collaborate on singular projects.

It is interesting to see how the world has been adopting BIM in different ways. While there is a general shift towards higher rates of BIM adoption, countries take different approaches. It is clear though that the world is rapidly following the BIM model to make construction more efficient and cost-effective.