Beter voorbereid door BIM: een onderzoek naar de invoering en toepassing van Virtueel Bouwen tijdens de voorbereiding van bouwprojecten

Introduction The Dutch construction industry is confronted with high costs due to inefficient production processes and the low quality of final products. This inefficiency is a result of the intrinsically fragmented characteristics of the industry compared to other engineering industries. As a result of this fragmentation there is no coherence between activities, which makes good coordination and handover of activities between involved parties and disciplines highly important. Ultimately this results in processes characterised by a high failure ratio and inefficiency. Due to recent market developments contractors in the construction industry, like Strukton, try to reduce failure ratio and inefficiency by implementing Virtual Building (Building Information Modelling) in projects during design and construction. A company of Strukton, Strukton Bouw & Vastgoed (SBV), expects to realise high benefits by implementing Virtual Building during the preparation phase of construction projects. However, in practice the realised benefits are generally lower than expected. Method Purpose of this research is to realise a considerate implementation and application of Virtual Building in SBV’s project organisation during the preparation phase of construction projects by developing guidelines for an operating procedure and an accompanying implementation. This implementation is needed to improve coordination and handover of activities between involved parties and disciplines in order to reduce the high failure ratio and inefficiency. To reach this goal, both a literature research and a case study were executed. First of all, by means of the literature research guidelines are drawn‐up to realise a considered implementation and application of Virtual Building in construction projects. Secondly, the implementation and application of Virtual Building during the preparation phase of the construction project NieuweVoorstad was described and analysed by the case study. Finally, guidelines to realise a considerate implementation and application of Virtual Building in SBV’s project organisation during the preparation phase of a following project are developed by comparing theory and practice. Data were collected by interviews with project participants and observations during a couple of weeks within the project team. At that moment Virtual Building was already implemented in the project. The traditional operating procedure during the preparation phase of SBV’s project organisation was an important background to realise the described research goals. Results From the literature it can be concluded that the implementation methodology developed by Adriaanse (2008; 2009) must be used to realise a considered implementation of ICT in construction projects, because this methodology is specifically developed for this purpose and it contains important change management elements and behaviour theories. Four phases are distinguished in every implementation process, namely: conceptualisation, adoption, implementation and assimilation. Of importance is the adoption phase in which the changes for every user are made explicit. In this way early observation and settlement of barriers is possible. In addition, an implementation strategy and implementation plan must be chosen and developed during this phase. In the literature no optimal strategy for the implementation of ICT in construction projects can be found. A combination of strategies seems to be the best way to realise a broad support for change. Guidelines to realise a considered operating procedure are the minimization of activities which do not add value or realise value loss and considering an operating procedure as a composition of the related elements process, methods, tools and environment which are affected by technology and people. Oktober 2009 10 In the case study less attention was paid to the adoption phase, which resulted in vague goals and conditions among the users and a deviation between the considered and desired application. Subsequently, this endangered the progress of the project and finally the scope of the planned change was decreased. The low attention paid to the adoption phase can be explained by the existence of a demanding actor, a perception of time pressure, the absence of most of the users, lack of knowledge and insight among the available users and the implicit chosen strategy. The case study also indicates that an originated (ad‐hoc) strategy can be successful. However, it is important that the strategy is facilitated by the involvement of experts, working in a small team in one room and the avoidance of risks (by choosing a small and feasible scope). Because these facilities contain elements of other strategies, a combined strategy seems to be most suitable. Finally, the case study shows us that pilot projects are partly connected to the actual project, which results in low priority for pilot projects when problems occur. Confrontation of theory and case study results finally resulted in implementing and operating procedure guidelines for the considerate implementation and application of Virtual Building in SBV’s project organisation during the preparation phase of a following/future project. The most important guidelines are described below. Conclusions and recommendations SBV must use the developed guidelines to realise a considerate implementation and application of Virtual Building in the project organisation during the preparation phase of a following project. The guidelines are valid for the preparation phase of projects with different contracts. The most important guidelines are: ‐ Give priority to the generation of object quantities from the 3D‐model for preparation (purchase) instead of calculation. This means that one of the conditions must be changed, namely: implementation of means that are tested in practice or with a test during the adoption or adaptation phase. ‐ Active and accurate execution of the adoption phase with all participants or a representation is vital and this must result in a well known and broadly supported protocol. This protocol must contain a description of the added value, goals, operating procedures, interventions, the planning of the interventions and necessary investments. The steps developed by Adriaanse (2009), the model developed by Adriaanse (2007) and the guidelines developed for a considered operating procedure by this research must be used. Tests of the essential elements of the ICT application and the accompanying operation procedure are also of importance. ‐ A combination of implementation strategies must be chosen. The originated strategy can be successful if it is facilitated with aspects of the other strategies. - If Virtual Building is implemented at the start of the preparation phase, the 3D‐model must be developed as quickly as possible through the application of a large amount of model capacity (‘model‐boost’) and/or an early start of the development of the 3D‐model. In this way, information from the 3D‐model can be used at the early start and during the preparation phase. Clarity about the application of the information from the 3D‐model and assistance from a project team member responsible for preparation is thereby essential