BIM in the Saudi Arabian construction industry: state of the art, benefit and barriers

Purpose Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study. Design/methodology/approach A broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach. Findings The study's findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication, whereas the most important barrier is the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM. Originality/value The study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.

Automated summary

This study provides an overview of the current state of BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, presenting perceived benefits and barriers through a case study of a local AEC firm. The findings include the lack of policy initiatives to enforce BIM and the need for more research in the field in Saudi Arabia. The study also highlights the importance of detecting conflicts in drawings and the challenges of re-engineering construction projects for successful transition to BIM.