Building Information Modeling is an innovative technology coupled with process and human interactions. BIM has been used by the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry in developed and developing countries including Malaysia. This paper aims to explore the BIM implementation in Malaysian Construction Industry. This paper begins with a literature review and then reports on the findings of case studies of selected Malaysian construction organizations, carried out with the aim to explore on existing BIM implementation establishing on the BIM applications, BIM benefits, and BIM future challenges. The review highlights on several BIM benefits regarding financial, better information, communication and coordination, respond to complexity, improved visual, improved sustainability, improved safety and also create service’s or business’s opportunities. Case study findings indicate that the BIM implementation in projects are still limited and requires more efforts to be made if the construction industry wants to gain BIM benefits. The results also indicate that although BIM implementation is considered low in the Malaysian construction industry, the participants are in a consensus of the benefits from BIM implementation, similar to those found in the literature. These benefits agreed by the participants that BIM implementation is a positive way to enhance the task efficiency in project delivery and also contribute to the higher visibility of the project, together with time and cost optimization. Furthermore, in the meantime, the organization that has the knowledge and skills in implementing BIM could benefit the opportunity in getting the new job or projects as well as being hired as the service provider in the construction industry. Nevertheless, implementing BIM is not without challenges. The data analysis had identified several challenges in regards to the implementation of BIM, which are non-technical (human and organizational culture) challenges and technical (technology) challenges. Thus, based on many future challenges for BIM, the Malaysian government and construction industry players need to collaborate and play their roles in supporting BIM development in Malaysia.

Building Information Modeling is an innovative technology coupled with process and human interactions. BIM has been used by the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry in developed and developing countries including Malaysia. The reason for having RIM in practice triggered by the Director of Public Works Department (PWD) in 2009; who urged construction companies to adopt ICT to enhance productivity and efficiency. This paper aims to explore the BIM implementation in Malaysian Construction Industry. A literature review was carried out to explore on existing BIM implementation that includes definitions, BIM applications, BIM benefits and BIM future challenges. The data collected from various sources such as books, journal articles, conference papers and material available on the Internet, which related to BIM. The review highlights on several BIM benefits regarding financial, better information, communication and coordination, respond to complexity, improved visual, improved sustainability, improved safety and also create service's or business's opportunities. Nevertheless, implementing BIM is not without challenges although it gains attention from many countries. Some issues regarding culture, technology, process and policy for the construction stakeholders, organizations and policymaker have been raised to take up the challenges for effective BIM implementation.

The government of Malaysia has a vision to become a fully developed country by the year 2020, and the construction industry has a significant role to play in assisting the government to achieve this vision. In order to become an advanced country, the construction players in Malaysia need to be globally competitive, and encouraging innovation in the industry is a key aspect of this is and provides the rationale for the roundtable discussion workshop this paper describes. The main objectives of this roundtable discussion were to establish the Building Information Modelling (BIM) task force, provide a platform for industry experts to discuss BIM issues, share knowledge and information and work collaboratively, and to provide recommendations for policy makers for further enhancements of the construction industry. The exploratory roundtable discussion was used as the research method. This roundtable discussion demonstrated the lack of understanding of BIM by the construction industry in Malaysia and the importance of establishing a BIM task force to promote BIM and National BIM Guidelines in Malaysia. This paper also presents the draft organisational chart for the BIM Taskforce, concludes that Industrial Building System (IBS) should provide one of the directions for this task force to implement BIM and that the next step is to develop a case study to increase knowledge sharing activities amongst practitioners and academics.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is defined as an approach to building design and construction through modeling technology, associated set of processes and people to produce, communicate and analyse building information models. Although the potential benefits of BIM are well documented, the implementation process requires a thoughtful review of many aspects to realise those benefits. Case study of BIM implementation is therefore important to be carried out to understand the BIM nature and the context of its implementation to which suits the local needs. The aim of this paper is therefore set to present the BIM implementation case study in which focus on BIM readiness criteria. It is important to note that, the term BIM readiness criteria used within this paper, refers to the BIM implementation requirement that focus on process element that takes place at the organisational level. Setting in the background of Malaysian construction industry the research engaged a multiple-case-studies approach and four design consultant companies were selected for the primary data collection. Data from each company were analysed by using content analysis technique. This paper, however presents one of the case studies that was conducted at Industrialised Building System (IBS) company. Three readiness criteria were identified and they are Policy, Implementation Management and Process Change Strategy.

In Malaysia, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has recently gained attraction from construction players and some of them have applied it to several projects. By utilising the BIM process, the construction players have the opportunity to plan, coordinate and design in an integrated approach. This is one of the many benefits that they could gain and resulting in increased productivity. Despite these benefits, the implementation of BIM in the Malaysian construction industry is still lagging behind Singapore, for instance. Thus, it warrants a study such as the present to determine what are the actual barriers that hamper its implementation and what are the driving factors that could enhance its pace of implementation in the Malaysian construction industry. In this study, a questionnaire survey based on Convenience Sampling Method was carried out to gather the possible barriers and driving factors for BIM implementation among the Malaysian construction players. Additionally, Relative Importance Indices (RII) were used to analyse the data obtained and to identify those barriers and driving factors for the implementation of BIM in this country. Consequently, results of this study revealed that the main barriers for implementing the BIM are: 1) Lack of knowledge about BIM, 2) Reluctance and/or no insistence shown by the Malaysian construction industry players (Clients, Contractors and Consultants alike) on the use or implementation of BIM. The driving factors, on the other hand, that could lead to the speeding up of the implementation of BIM are: 1) Support and enforcing the implementation of BIM by the Government, 2) promote BIM training program and 3) Initiatives of senior management of the related industry players. In conclusion, for successful wide spread application of BIM in Malaysia, a good push from the government alone is far from enough. All other construction industry players mentioned must assume their roles well in promoting the use of BIM in their construction projects.

The current financial challenges being faced by the UK economy have meant that the NHS will have to make £20 billion of savings between 2010 and 2014 requiring it to be innovative about how it delivers healthcare. This paper presents the methodology of a research project that is simulating the whole healthcare system with the aim of reducing waste within urgent unscheduled care streams whilst understanding the impact of such changes on the whole system. The research is aimed at care commissioners who could use such simulation in their decision-making practice, and the paper presents the findings from early stakeholder discussions about the scope and focus of the research and the relevance of stakeholder consultation and scenarios in the development of a valid decision-support tool that is fit for purpose.

Building Information Modelling has been recognised as one of the Information Technology/Information Systems that could assist construction delivery in achieving Integrated Practice. However, the level of uptake currently varies between one organisation to another and has raised the need to determine whether the uptake is moving towards integrated practice or not. Through a literature review, this paper discussed a few models that that could be used to determine the level of uptake and they are CMMI, (PM)², SPICE, BEACON, VERDICT, i-CMM and BIMMi. This paper concludes that VERDICT, i-CMM and BIMMi can be used to determine the level of uptake. The selection of the model, however, depends on the purpose and area of evaluation.

Integrated practice in construction industry is identified as one of the solution that could be used to minimise the problems associated with fragmentation in construction. Many solutions are identified to support integrated practice and such of them are Integrated Project Delivery, Integrated Design Solution and nD Modelling. The aforementioned solutions, however, have the similarity where they are all using Building Information Modelling as a part of the process. Through a literature review, this paper is highlighted the definition and concept of Building Information Modelling. Several benefits of implementing Building Information Modelling is also discussed which covers the visualization and collaboration benefit, synchronization of design and construction planning, conflict detection and cost reduction. This paper concluded the Building Information Modelling could provide an ideal platform for integrated practice since it is capable of integrating and linking the project information to the data level.

The multi-disciplinary EPSRC funded SURegen project is developing a digital decision support aid that will capture good practice in sustainable urban regeneration for use by practitioners for real time decision-making, training and education purposes. It will achieve this by identifying the key decision points in the early stages of the regeneration process, such as diagnosis and visioning, and simulating a variety of decision impacts or outcomes. This paper will provide detail about the development of the project’s general approach and technical methodology, its data collection techniques and the important role that the project’s industrial partners are playing in ensuring that the project delivers a tool that is both contextually specific to the Manchester case studies whilst providing good practice examples of interest to regeneration throughout the UK and beyond. It provides details of the outcomes of a recent workshop exploring the project partners’ aspirations and priorities for the SURegen decision-support tool.

The multi-disciplinary SURegen project is aiming to develop a digital decision support aid that will capture good practice in sustainable urban regeneration (SUR) and support regeneration training and education for practitioners. It will achieve this through the modelling of the regeneration process, the identification of key decision points and the simulation of various decision outcomes. This paper will outline the research methodology that is planned for the project as a whole and for the technical development of the digital support aid, the Regeneration Simulator Workbench or RSW, and provide justification for these approaches within the context of antecedent research projects. Based upon the experiences of these previous projects, the paper will also present some of the difficulties that can be anticipated when conducting multi-disciplinary research.

This research investigates the collaboration problems faced by the construction industry as a result of the traditional, sequential ways in which its practitioners work, and proposes nD modelling as a new approach for multi-disciplinary teams. The life-cycle of a building - from its design, construction, use, maintenance and demolition - requires and generates a large amount of information from both the supply and demand sides. The individual components that a building is comprised of have mutually reflexive relationships with one another and so changes to one parameter in a design can have positive and negative impacts upon one or more of the other components. However, the sequential way in which practitioners traditionally work, in separate, discipline-defined silos means that they are often unaware of the nature and effects of these relationships. This has resulted in the UK in a construction industry that is characterised by fragmentation and poor communication (Egan, 1998). The nD approach is holistic and aims to integrate all the data and processes related to the n or infinite number of dimensions in the whole lifecycle of a building - the geometric x, y and z dimensions, with time, acoustics, crime, thermal requirements, access, facilities management and maintenance to name a few - into one, single process. In doing so, the discipline based silos in which construction related stakeholders are based will be broken down and replaced with concurrent collaboration methods, enhanced comprehension of building plans through the use of advanced computer interfaces and better access to information by stakeholders. Information communication technologies (ICTs) can help facilitate organisational change by supporting new ways of working: the barriers of time and space between collaborators can be bridged by electronic data exchanges and telephone- and videoconferencing which allow individuals to work in both synchronous and asynchronous ways between offices in the same building or between continents throughout the world. ICTs can also facilitate better teaching and understanding in the classroom, in public participation forums and on the building site through the use of enhanced interfaces and virtual reality technology. By using an nD model as a data repository for all the information required during the building lifecycle, it can be used for decision-making and 'what-if scenario development so that the impacts of small changes to individual components upon the whole design can be established. This research proposes that for an nD modelling approach to be truly holistic, it is not sufficient to add all the dimensions and data together so that nD equals the sum of all the separate dimensions, in other words for it to be multi-disciplinary in nature. Instead, and in common with business process re-engineering approaches, if a new approach to collaboration is to have real efficiency and effectiveness gains it must be more radical in nature. It is proposed therefore that nD modelling should aim to be inter-disciplinary in nature: the approach should be greater than the sum of its constituent parts. Whilst ICTs can help facilitate better collaboration on a practical level, in order for them to be implemented successfully in teams and organisations it is essential to understand some of the social and psychological aspects of the membership and dynamics of groups. It is important to establish the social pre-requisites for successful teams - such as the existence of trust - and understand how these relationships may change, for better and for worse, as a result of electronic communication and collaboration. As a result of a literature search and a number of workshops, a framework has been developed and validated which illustrates how the currently multi-disciplinary construction industry can become more holistic and inter-disciplinary in nature by overcoming a number of barriers that currently exist. It is proposed that, although construction stakeholders continue to think and work in mono-disciplinary ways, by adopting the inter-disciplinary nD modelling approach they will be able to exploit a number of opportunities that will allow the industry to be more efficient, trusting and effective.

This paper reports on the ongoing IntelCities (Intelligent Cities - IST no. 507860) integrated project, which commenced in January 2004 that seeks to integrate e-governance and e-urban planning. IntelCities is still at a formative stage and the paper seeks to explain the background, the research questions and preliminary design of prototyping studies to be carried out in the cities of Marseille, Siena, Helsinki, Rome, Leicester, Dresden, Berlin and Manchester. These prototypes are to be linked together to demonstrate an integrated open system city platform. The main business opportunities for IST companies and in terms of increased efficiency in e-urban planning are explored. The main outcomes are anticipated, which include a new public asset in terms of a city-wide intelligent information system.

The number and variety of design and construction stakeholders can make effective and efficient collaboration difficult, a situation that is not helped by the sequential way in which many of the processes work. This paper presents the findings of a number of workshops focussing on the problems and barriers inherent in the industry which would currently prevent effective implementation of a process improvement tool. Discussion attempts to illustrate the ways in which the concurrent approach that nD Modelling is taking can help overcome the most significant of these problems. It is concluded that an nD model could provide the greatest value as a communication tool for industry and education as education arguably provides one of the greatest opportunities by which improvements to the industry may come about.

The ever increasing number and diversity of professionals and researchers involved in the construction industry can make effective collaboration difficult. This paper looks at some of the problems which these groups may face by making the distinction between multi- and inter-disciplinary research more apparent. The themes which it raises have important implications for education and collaboration within academia and with industrial partners. Two research projects are used as case studies to illustrate some of the issues and to try to prove the concept and usefulness of inter-disciplinary or mode 2 research for application to the built environment field. These projects are From 3D to nD Modelling an EPSRC-funded platform grant implementing integrated computer construction models and BEQUEST an EU-funded concerted action investigating the assessment of sustainable urban development. The output of the two From 3D to nD Modelling workshops demonstrates that the conflicts inherent in multi-disciplinary collaborative working need to be considered and managed, but that presently, there is little available information on how to do this.

This paper introduces work being carried out by the VULCAN (Virtual Urban Laboratory Computer Aided Networks) research project undertaken at the University of Salford in the UK. The project aims to develop a technical system to facilitate public participation in the urban planning process based on the Chapel Street re-development area of Salford. This will combine geographic information system (GIS) and virtual reality (VR) technology. The participation will also take the form of iterative, user-led design through a user-needs analysis. This paper focuses on establishing an appropriate framework with robust methods capable of handling the complex, multi-disciplinary nature of this project and its problems. It is essential for the research to be grounded properly if reliable and valid conclusions are to be drawn. Discussion in this paper focuses upon the qualitative vs. quantitative debate and the appropriate methods for data collection and systems design that result from these two conceptual approaches.

Research and innovation in the built environment is increasingly taking on an inter-disciplinary nature. The built environment industry and professional practice have long adopted multi and interdisciplinary practices. The application of IT in Construction is moving beyond the automation and replication of discrete mono and multi-disciplinary tasks to replicate and model the improved interdisciplinary processes of modem design and construction practice. A major long-term research project underway at the University of Salford seeks to develop IT modelling capability to support the design of buildings and facilities that are buildable, maintainable, operable, sustainable, accessible, and have properties of acoustic, thermal and business support performance that are of a high standard. Such an IT modelling tool has been the dream of the research community for a long time. Recent advances in technology are beginning to make such a modelling tool feasible.Some of the key problems with its further research and development, and with its ultimate implementation, will be the challenges of multiple research and built environment stakeholders sharing a common vision, language and sense of trust. This paper explores these challenges as a set of research issues that underpin the development of appropriate technology to support realisable advances in construction process improvements.