Building information modeling in Public Private Partnership Projects – perspectives and hurdles

Abstract

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has received widespread attention in the management of built environment with the potential to change the traditional construction practices. BIM promotes an integrated project delivery approach that encourages collaboration amongst the various stakeholders to the project over its lifecycle. The perceived benefits from collaboration such as improved profitability, reduced costs, better time management and improved customer/contractor relationships have been amongst the factors driving the paradigm shift towards BIM. However, there are various barriers affecting the implementation of BIM in construction projects. Legal pitfalls, besides the technological issues, have been amongst the barriers to efficient implementation of BIM. The legal risks assume a bigger hurdle in BIM adoption for construction projects procured through public private partnership (PPP) route such as build-operate-transfer (BOT) on account of the highly complex contractual relationships amongst the various stakeholders to the project. PPP projects have additional confidentiality, commercial, financial, and legal complexities besides the technical and managerial issues of traditional design-build projects. The paper discusses the hurdles in the implementation of BIM to manage the construction projects procured through PPP route, which has become one of the preferred routes for procurement of projects in developed and developing countries in view of the budgetary constraints faced by the governments. The paper concludes with additional legal and contractual measures that should be included in contractual package of PPP projects in order to facilitate BIM for management of the projects.