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.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The need for increased productivity and higher return on investments in the construction industry has become a great concern for industry stakeholders (Infocomm, 2011). Such decline in productivity is bred by several factors resulting to increased wastages, rework, time overruns, cost overruns, and adversarial relationships between project stakeholders (Infocomm, 2011; Telaga, 2018; Iyorter, 2019).
Furthermore, the Nigerian construction industry accounts for 70% of fixed capital formation, yet it contributes less to the economy when compared with other industries (Iyorter, 2019). The industry accounts for 4% contribution to Gross Domestic Product and it is a cross cutting or linkage industry which generates employment. The Nigerian construction industry faces problems such as construction delays, time and cost overruns, abandonment of projects, power shortage and corruption among others. In addition, the Nigerian construction industry is stuck in traditional construction processes and fragmentation of work processes which leads to multiple exchanges of information between people, disciplines and project phases. Interestingly, studies such as  Iyorter (2019)  and Abubakar  et al. (2014) have shown that Building Information Modelling (BIM) is capable of addressing these problems by promoting better integration of construction processes and enabling project teams to collaborate and exchange project information electronically. BIM is therefore an innovative approach to building design, construction and management which is gradually being implemented by countries such as United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand in order to address the challenges facing the industry (Iyorter, 2019).
BIM is described as a set of interacting policies and processes that are being enabled by technologies in generating a methodology to procure building works (Succar, 2009), purely from inception through the construction process to completion and to the entire lifecycle of a building. It aids the visualization of what is to be built in a simulated environment in order to identify potential design, construction or operational problems of a facility. Despite established benefits that BIM offers, the adoption of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry has been relatively slow, which is believed to be associated to low level of awareness and utilization amongst stakeholders (Ryal-Net and Kaduma, 2015). Abubakar et al. (2014) reported that many developed economies of the world have recorded impressive outcomes by implementing BIM in their construction practices but the developing countries including Nigeria have not.
Kong et al. (2020) reported that many surveys and researches show the effort of using BIM worldwide. However, the challenges still exist since industrial players have certain reasons for not adopting BIM in their projects. For developed countries, it was reported that the lack of adequate training is the greatest challenge while cost of software and required hardware upgrades were reported to be the second greatest challenge (Kong et al.,2020). Also, the Smart-Market Report (2014) showed that for the years of 2009, 2012 and 2014, the lack of demand is the top reason for not adopting BIM among non-users in Australia, New Zealand and North America. Developing countries, such as Nigeria, is also faced with similar challenges (Iyorter, 2019). Hence, the need for this study.
1.2 Statement of the Research Problem
The Nigerian construction industry has faced so many criticisms across the globe for its inefficiency and lack of productivity, which have been attributed to its fragmented nature. (Abubakar et al., 2014). BIM is one of such innovative processes that promises to bring about
the continuous improvement and desired change in the construction industry and revolutionize the processes of its operation to achieve better collaboration between project parties and ensure successful project delivery (Abubakar et al., 2014; Telaga, 2018; Iyorter, 2019).
Hamma-Adama and Kouider (2018), Architecture Engineering and Construction business is developing as a result of digital transition. This development became obvious since development of BIM concept. However, this is yet to be achieved globally due to conventional nature of the industry. BIM is the most recent development of the construction industry’s process and a promising concept determined to shape the industry’s fragmented culture (Zhao et al., 2016).
Improvement of project cost control and conflict reduction are among the numerous benefits associated with BIM (Telaga, 2018). Therefore, BIM has been widely adopted in many countries to increase the productivity of construction projects. However, level of BIM utilization in construction industry varies among countries. While developed countries are among the early implementer of BIM, its implementation in developing countries still poses many challenges.
Nigerian construction industry is besieged with problems such as increased wastages, rework, time overruns, cost overruns, and adversarial relationships between project stakeholders and these problems can be attributed to the low level of BIM adoption (Iyorter, 2019). In order to address these problems, it is necessary to assess the level of readiness of adoption of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry using Abuja as the study area.
1.3 Research Questions
In order to address the problem identified by this study, the following research questions were set:
i. What are the barriers to the readiness of BIM adoption in the Nigerian construction industry?
ii. What is the current level of awareness of stakeholders on the adoption of BIM in the execution of construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria?
iii. What are the pre-requisites for the readiness of the adoption of BIM in the execution of construction works at different stages of a project?
iv. What is the level of readiness for adoption of BIM in the execution of construction projects in Abuja?
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
1.4.1 Aim
The aim of the study is to assess the readiness for the adoption of BIM in the execution of construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria.
1.4.2 Objectives
In order to achieve the aim of the study, the following objectives shall be addressed:
i. Examine the barriers to the readiness of BIM adoption in the Nigerian construction industry.
ii. Determine the current level of awareness of stakeholders on BIM adoption for construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria.
iii. Determine the pre-requisites for the readiness of the adoption of BIM in the execution of construction projects in Abuja, Nigeria.
iv.     Examine the level of readiness for adoption of BIM in execution of Construction Projects in Abuja, Nigeria.
1.5 Need for the Study
Previous studies have reported that the adoption of BIM technologies result to impressive outcomes despite some notable challenges in many developed nations of the world such as USA, UK, Australia, Netherlands, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Indonesia, and Malaysia (Yan and Damian, 2008; Isikdag and Underwood, 2010; Nederveen et al., 2010; Telaga, 2018; Kong et al., 2020).
Babarinde (2017) found that professionals are willing to adopt BIM but are limited by the various barriers and there is a low level of awareness and usage of BIM among the professionals in the post construction stage with a majority of them just getting to know about it. Babarinde (2017) stressed further that the few studies on BIM and lack of requisite knowledge has served as a major deterrent to BIM adoption. BIM adoption in Nigeria is therefore at its infancy because majority of the knowledge of BIM exists only theoretically, much efforts are not being directed towards the practical aspect of BIM (Babarinde, 2017). This is like putting the cart before the horse. It is therefore imperative to evaluate the readiness for the full adoption of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry in order to address the barriers to effective BIM adoption by the stakeholders.
Considering the reported benefits, Olatunji et al. (2010) and Iyorter (2019) stressed the need for the full adoption of BIM technologies across all disciplines and geographical boundaries. This makes it imperative for the Nigerian construction industry, which has been described as a ‘sleeping giant’ and having no capacity to deliver due to inefficiency and poor service delivery among other problems (Kolo and Ibrahim, 2010), to exploit the widely acclaimed benefits of BIM technologies in order to perform in line with the global best practices and achieve the continuous improvement needed by its players. Studies along this direction have been able to discover that the Nigerian construction industry’s awareness and adoption of BIM is still low. This, however, leaves  a  gap of improving the  awareness and  adoption level of  BIM  in the  execution of construction projects in Nigeria.
In order to fill the gap identified above, this study assesses the readiness for the adoption of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry with a view to enhancing the readiness level of construction stakeholders in the adoption of BIM. The outcome of this research will clearly make the strategies for improving the level of readiness for the adoption of BIM by construction stakeholders to be known. It will also enable the stakeholders involved make adequate provisions for the adoption of BIM at each stage of a construction projects. These would in the long run solve the problem of increased wastages, rework, time overruns, cost overruns, and adversarial relationships between project stakeholders which have been attributed to the fragmented nature of the Nigerian construction industry.
1.6Â Â Â Â Â Scope of the Study This research work covers only readiness of the adoption of BIM within construction projects only. Area of my concentration is limited to FCT Abuja. Every stage of Building Construction project was covered.
This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research
READINESS OF NIGERIAN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ON ADOPTION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM)
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