A survey of The Institution of Structural Engineers’ UK membership has revealed a high level of interest and enthusiasm for BIM among structural engineers, but identifies training issues and uptake among smaller practices as barriers to implementation across the profession.
The survey of over 750 Institution of Structural Engineers members included a good spread of respondents, with 31% sole practitioners or from practices or ten employees or less, and 27% from practices of 500 or more. 31% of respondents were aged 34 or less.
Of those surveyed, 71% believed BIM to be relevant to their practice. However, attitudes to BIM changed markedly among smaller practices and sole practitioners:
- 60% of sole practitioners said BIM was not relevant to their practice while almost 40% of those from practices of between 2 and 10 employees also replied that it was not relevant.
- Gap between ambitions for BIM use and use in practice
- 70% of respondents said they already needed to use BIM to meet their clients’ needs, or would need to do so within the next two years.
- However, only 32% described their current use of BIM as ‘heavy’ or ‘very heavy’, with 40% describing their use as ‘light’ or ‘very light’ – identifying a gap between ambitions for BIM implementation and actual use.
- 57% of respondents identified issues like protection of intellectual property, trust in how BIM would be used, and liability issues as key barriers to sharing information via BIM – all issues that would require the assessment of management positions.
- Yet 50% of those being trained in BIM were found to be graduate or technician level employees, while only 9% of principal staff and/or Directors were being trained.
Chairman of the Institution of Structural Engineers’ BIM Panel, David Shields CEng, MIStructE, MICE, said: “We would like to thank all those members of the Institution who took part in the survey, providing us with an invaluable insight into attitudes to BIM among the UK profession.
“One of the most striking aspects of the survey has been the continuing uncertainty about BIM among smaller practices – but we would urge all those who view BIM as irrelevant to remember that BIM is not just a question of 3D modelling. BIM should rather be regarded as a way to improve the quality and efficiency of design and assurance. On many occasions 3D modelling software will not be necessary to make a BIM contribution, in fact in many cases small practices will already be doing BIM, gathering all the necessary data as part of their regular work.
“We’d also urge firms of all sizes to consider training senior management positions in BIM as much as graduates and technician level employees: most of the issues we saw identified as barriers to BIM will require management input to resolve, and therefore management fluency in BIM will be essential to fast, efficient working practices.”
