1 s2.0 S2090447920300915 Main
1 s2.0 S2090447920300915 Main
1 s2.0 S2090447920300915 Main
Civil Engineering
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Building Information Modelling is one of the crucial topics in the construction industry. The construction
Received 17 August 2019 industry has played an important role to assist stakeholders to successfully transfer construction prac-
Revised 25 January 2020 tices to BIM-based technology. Currently, no systematic research that has been carried out to determine
Accepted 13 April 2020
the level of BIM implementation in Malaysia. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the diffusion of BIM
Available online 11 June 2020
among Malaysian companies. The results of the 268 responses received revealed that only 13% of the par-
ticipants from both public and private sectors are using BIM in their organization and this is a negative
Keywords:
sign that Malaysia is still far away from the position it supposed to be in BIM implementation. Lack of
Building information modelling
BIM implementation
awareness, costs, slow adaptation, unavailability of a clear guideline to assist organizations and policy-
BIM awareness makers toward BIM implementation transforming and that BIM was not mandated in sufficient time
BIM usage were observed to be responsible for the slow implementation.
BIM benefits Ó 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
Malaysia This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asej.2020.04.007
2090-4479/Ó 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
456 I. Othman et al. / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 12 (2021) 455–463
Table 1
BIM Implementation Phases in PWD’S BIM Projects [22].
Project Concept. Prelim. Detailed Procurement Construction As- Project Concept. Prelim. Detailed Procurement Construction As-Build
design design design Build design design design
p p p p p p p
National Cancer Bagan Datuk
Institute Polythecnic
Putrajaya
p p p p
SMK Meru Raya Kemaman
Ipoh Perak Hospital
p p p p p p p p p
Health Clinic Istana Raja
Maran Pahang Muda Perlis Arau
p p p p p p p p
MACC Selangor Besut
Shah Alam Polythecnic
p p p
MARA College Pre-Approved
Banting Plan (PAP)
Selangor
p p p
MBKT Kuala Pendang Hospital
Terengganu
p p p p
Endocrine Pasir Gudang
Complex Hospital
Putrajaya
Hospital
p p p
UTHM Batu Kajang Hospital
Pahat Johor
p p p p
Parit Buntar Seri Iskandar
Hospital Hospital
for registered companies of BIM services. The population were esti- centre. The results collected previously from responses from Mel-
mated to be around 3533. By using Morgan’s table for determining aka state were published by the authors as a case study for BIM
sample size from a given population [26], the sample size repre- level in Melaka [28], and it is merged in this paper with other
senting the total population is determined to be 346. In this states to establish the level of BIM implementation in Malaysia.
research, 590 questionnaires surveys were distributed to the par- The pie chart shown in Fig. 1 illustrates the percentage of the
ticipants and 290 questionnaires were returned; out of the 290 respondent according to the states where the questionnaires were
retuned questionnaires, 268 were evaluated to be valid for further distributed. As shown, the highest number of responses were col-
analysis which covered the main objectives of this research. The lected during the seminar in Kedah (38%) followed by responses
percentage of the returned questionnaire is around 77%, which is from Sarawak, Melaka and Sabah with 31%, 17% and 14%, respec-
acceptable limit by Akadiri [27]. tively. Participants from construction industry were from public
and private sector and included developers, consultants, contrac-
tors, academician, administrations, and others. It was observed
3.2. Respondents demographic analysis that the number of registered participants in the seminar were
around 200 in Kedah and Sarawak, while in Melaka and Sabah
Participants involved in this research were targeted to be from the overall registered participants were about 100. Therefore, over-
public and private sectors which include client/developers, all respondents are applicable to represent the level of BIM imple-
contractors, consultants, and participants from CIDB and MYBIM mentation in Malaysia. Professionals in the interview were asked
about the percentage of respondent and they both agreed that this
can perfectly reflect the level of BIM application in Malaysia.
For the interview, as highlighted two expert professionals were
invited to explore their feedback about the finding and discuss the
level of BIM implementation in details. The background of the
interviewees are as follow:
Table 2
Classification of Respondents (Demographic Analysis).
figure also shows that around 33% of the respondents have worked
from one to less than 5 year, which is the highest percentage
among other working experience groups. Respondents with a
working experience between 5 and 10 years and more than
15 years were about 27% and 25%, respectively, and only 15% of
the respondents have worked from 10 to15 years, which is the
lowest. In terms of the respondent designation, it can be observed
that 25% of the respondents are executive management, 21% are
junior management, 16% are the senior management and 38% are
others that included engineers, lecturers, QS and admin, which
was the highest percentage among the respondents. The propor-
tion of respondents according to the state of the data collection
is illustrated in the table. According to the interview discussion
about the classification of respondents, both interviewed profes-
sionals believe that the designation could be anything related to
civil or construction project (engineering, management, or a lec-
turer at civil engineering department) as long as the respondent
has knowledge of construction projects and BIM. In terms of qual-
ification, they mentioned that the majority of industry players will
have a bachelor’s degree which was exactly similar to the ques-
tionnaire result. However, they highlighted that the qualification
level was not supposed to affect the quality of the response.
In terms of company establishment, this study classified
Fig. 2. Classification of Respondents’ Sector.
respondents as either public or private. Fig. 2 shows the percentage
of public sector to private sector. It is clearly shown that majority
of the respondents are from the private sector (68%), which was
approximately twice as high than the participants from the public
sector (32%). There is no exact explanation for variation, but the
authors found that Malaysian construction has mandated BIM to
any public project budgeted at RM100 million and above [21]. This
was seen as an acceptable reason to have more respondents from
private sectors seeking to enhance their awareness and under-
standing of this new technology and its application in construction
projects because CIDB has recommended the mandatory use of
Building Information Modelling (BIM) in certain private sector pro-
jects by 2020 [29].
In terms of the Nature of Business, this paper has a diverse
range of respondents from Clients/developers, contractors, civil
and structure engineers, architectures, and Mechanical, Electrical
and Piping engineers (MEP). Fig. 3 illustrated the percentage of
participants from each business according to their related sector.
Total of 45% and 15% from all states represent contractors and cli-
ents, respectively, which is the highest compared to others. In pub-
lic sector, contractors represent 9% and clients was 6%. About only
1% of the total respondent from MEP and architectural engineer in
both sectors. Civil and structural engineers recorded 6% and 3%
Fig. 3. Respondent Nature of Business.
from public sector and private sector respectively. The proportion
I. Othman et al. / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 12 (2021) 455–463 459
Table 3
One-Way ANOVA Test.
Descriptive
Awareness
N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval for Mean Minimum Maximum
Lower Bound Upper Bound
Yes 35 3.40 1.22 0.21 2.98 3.82 1.00 5.00
No 204 2.34 1.05 0.07 2.20 2.49 1.00 5.00
Maybe 29 2.20 1.01 0.19 1.82 2.59 1.00 4.00
Total 268 2.46 1.13 0.07 2.33 2.60 1.00 5.00
Based on the interview discussion, interviewee I agreed that BIM improves con-
ANOVA Test struction productivity and efficiency, reduces cost and time, enhances construction
environment in terms of safety and management. He explained that BIM applica-
Awareness tion is expanded, and the technology is in a continuous development to involve
all construction domains. For example, BIM was known as a 3-D modelling and
Sum of df Mean F Sig.
improved to include time and cost as 4 and 5-D, further development includes
Squares Square the 6-D of facility management. He also mentioned that BIM benefits will be
achieved if everyone is willing and committed to BIM, all parties should take
Between Groups 35.56 2 17.78 15.54 0.00
responsibility for implementation, and project stakeholders must collaborate effec-
Within Groups 303.14 265 1.14 tively. Interviewee II had a different opinion and argued that we know the benefits
Total 338.70 267 from books and journals. In terms of the construction practices improvement, he
has agreed that BIM visualize the project and include component specification
and details and even supplier information. He agreed that BIM could save a lot of
maintenance costs during operation stage but limited proof or real case study to
4.3. BIM benefits motivate companies to use BIM
claim BIM could save cost and time during other stages. To convince practitioners
of BIM benefits, the construction industry should provide evidence to player on
The benefits of BIM have driven construction industry to introduce BIM in
how this technology will benefit them or it must mandate its implementation.
construction projects. The construction industry main goal of adopting BIM is to
increase productivity and efficiency. Of course, literatures have listed a variety of
benefits that have led to significant improvement in construction sustainability.
Those benefits influence construction practitioners’ decision to adopt BIM. This 5. Conclusion
research has identified 18 factors as positive influence factors (IF) that strongly rep-
resent the most discussed benefits achieved by implementing BIM in construction
practices. Across all participants, the top 7 ranked factors -with the highest mean
The primary contribution of this research paper is to establish
of 4 and above- are increase productivity and efficiency, assess time and cost, elim- the current level of BIM implementation in Malaysian construction
inate clashes in design, integrate scheduling and planning, identify time-based industry. The construction industry works hard with CIDB to pro-
clashes, improve multi-party communication and monitor and track progress dur- mote BIM implementation to enhance professionals and organisa-
ing construction. These factors mostly concern professionals for adopting BIM.
tions’ awareness and encourage them to adopt BIM process and
Other factors are also significant and considered valuable to construction industry.
Table 4 shows the list of 18 factors used in this research with their mean score and implement it in their work environment. This research targeted
standard deviation. The result shows a mean between 4.08 and 3.85 and standard local construction organization participated in BIM promoting
deviation between 0.85 and 0.73, indicating a high agreement of the respondent’s seminars organized by CIDB. Questionnaire survey was distributed
perception with significant deviation. The test for consistency were excellent in Melaka, Kedah Sabah, and Sarawak. This study concluded that
according to Cronbach’s Alpha 0.98. According to Bui, Merschbrock and Munkvold
[2], BIM is seen as a catalyst innovation in the construction industry. Therefore,
adoption and usage of BIM technology concept within the organi-
organizations should understand the effective process for implementing BIM in zation has a significant impact to professionals and management
the projects. skills. The level of BIM implementation and team awareness
Table 4
Non-Exhaustive List of Benefits Influences BIM Implementation.
ID Factors Mean Std. a Ranking The important benefits identified were also supported by
Deviation the below listed researchers
IF1 Increase productivity and efficiency design. 4.08 0.77 0.98 1 [10,12,32]
IF2 Assess time and cost associated with design change. 4.07 0.82 2 [12,31,32]
IF3 Eliminate clashes in design. 4.06 0.78 3 [12,14,31,32]
IF4 Integrate construction scheduling & planning. 4.04 0.76 4 [3]
IF5 Identify time-based clashes. 4.03 0.80 5 [3,14]
IF6 Improve multi-party communication and maintain 4.03 0.77 6 [3]
synchronize communication.
IF7 Monitor and track progress during construction. 4.01 0.80 7 [12]
IF8 Effectively collaborate with other teams to successfully 3.99 0.79 8 [12,32]
deliver a product.
IF9 Integrate cost estimation. 3.99 0.80 9 [3,14]
IF10 Facilitate site analysis and planning. 3.98 0.77 10 [3]
IF11 Review design progress. 3.97 0.77 11 [3]
IF12 Increase sustainable goals. 3.91 0.79 12 [3]
IF13 Maintain success interoperability of building component 3.91 0.73 13 [3]
throughout the building lifecycle.
IF14 Enhance collaboration between stakeholders. 3.90 0.81 14 [3,12,14,32]
IF15 Promote transparency. 3.88 0.84 15 [3]
IF16 Support safety management processes. 3.87 0.85 16 [14]
IF17 Allow diversity Management. 3.86 0.79 17 [3,10]
IF18 Facilitate energy efficiency analysis. 3.85 0.81 18 [3]
462 I. Othman et al. / Ain Shams Engineering Journal 12 (2021) 455–463
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is specialized on Sustainable project development and construction, Building Malaysia (UTM) in 2015, and currently he is pursuing his Ph.D in soft soil stabi-
Information Modelling, and Collaborative Decision Making. She is also active lization using sustainable materials in Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP),
member in Project Management Institute. Malaysia.
Y. H. Mugahed Amran is an assistant professor of structural engineering at the He has 24 research papers published in prestigious journals and international
department of civil engineering, college of engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz indexed conferences. He was the corresponding author of two papers recently
University (PSAU), Saudi Arabia and former assistant professor at Amran University, published in Acta Geotechnica and the Journal of International Measurement
Yemen. He received his B.Eng in civil engineering and M.Eng in structure from Confederation. He also published papers in Geomechanics and Engineering, an
Universiti Tecknologi Malaysia (UTM) and PhD in structural Engineering from International Journal, KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering, Geotechnical and Geolog-
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 2011, 2013 and 2016. respectively. His research ical Engineering Journal and Malaysian Construction Research Journal. He is
interests are structural engineering, concrete structures, supplemental cementi- working in soft soil improvement techniques and dynamic and static loading effect
tious materials (SCM), fibrous and porous composites, and smart materials & on soft soils.
structures.