READINESS OF NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ON ADOPTION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM)

Abstract

Previous studies revealed low level of adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Nigerian construction industry causing increased wastages, rework, time overruns, cost overruns, and adversarial relationships between project stakeholders. BIM adoption in Nigeria is at its infancy because majority of the knowledge of BIM exists only theoretically as much efforts are not being directed towards its application. This study therefore assessed the level of readiness for the adoption of BIM in the execution of construction projects in Nigeria with a view to enhancing the readiness level of construction stakeholders in the adoption of BIM. The study adopted a quantitative research approach. Data were collected with use of questionnaire survey from 127 construction professionals in Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Abuja, Nigeria. Analysis of data was undertaken to obtain descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentage and Meant Item Score (MIS). The study revealed that: the Design phase/stage and Construction phase/stage are the important stages requiring the adoption of BIM (MIS = 4.74 and 4.61 respectively); the important pre-requisites for the readiness of BIM adoption by construction firms in Nigeria are: Model-centric workflows, Collaboration and data management, and Integrated analysis (MIS = 4.53-4.55); the Construction and Design stages are where the level of stakeholders’ awareness on the adoption of BIM are high (MIS = 3.76 and 3.73 respectively) and the barriers to the readiness of BIM adoption in the Nigerian construction industry are: Lack of adequate BIM training and inadequate exposure to BIM concept and Low level of BIM technical know-how (MIS = 4.19 and 4.10 respectively). It was concluded that the level of readiness for the adoption of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry is on the average but it is confronted more by the two afore mentioned barriers. It was therefore recommended that the Government and all construction stakeholders should incorporate BIM in the academic curriculum and also provide appropriate technology and infrastructure ready for BIM adoption right from the procurement processes in Nigeria.