Building Information Modelling (BIM) – its applicability in Architectural firms in Uganda

Abstract

Utilization of Building Information Modelling BIM during design stages is extremely important in the pursuit to achieve efficiency, early clash detections, adequate project evaluation and more importantly, the ease in collaboration and information exchange during the design stages. Currently, BIM utilization at design stage is not fully realized in Ugandan architectural firms. This study has explored how to bridge the existing gap by establishing the potential and existing limitations to BIM’s applicability in Uganda’s Architectural firms. It has been widely acknowledged that BIM is an emerging technological and procedural shift within the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. BIM represents a methodology to manage the building design and project data in digital format throughout a building’s lifecycle. The aim of the paper was to establish the potential of BIM and possible implementation of BIM operations as well as the existing limitations to its applicability in Ugandan architectural firms. The esearch was conducted through a series of interviews with 12 leading Architecture firms, where for each firm, a senior architect was interviewed as well as some software technicians employed in some of the firms. The findings highlighted the current state of application of BIM tools in architectural firms and several issues related to the general understanding of the BIM concept and lack of adequate training by the software technicians. This research also revealed a lack of awareness of certain factors like operational processes, operational efficiency and the importance of BIM operations as a whole. The focus on the BIM concept in architectural practice was found to be a new area of research, therefore, this study, adopted a random sampling method on architectural firms with in Kampala to establish the potential of BIM on architectural practices in Uganda. This study concludes by recommending a holistic integration of designers, processes, appropriate BIM tools and other third-party BIM stakeholders (Engineers, Quantity surveyors and contractors) in order to reach the optimum utilization of BIM during design.

Keywords: Building Information Modelling (BIM), Architectural firms, Uganda.

DOI: 10.7176/IKM/14-2-05

Publication date:May 31^st 2024