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Research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) shows that 73% of surveying firms in the UK see the non-adoption of BIM as a threat to the construction industry’s health within the next year.
Although 74% have considered the business case for BIM adoption, 49% are still not using BIM in the day-to-day aspects of their work.
Of those not currently using BIM within their organisation, 68% of respondents said that they did not think there was enough information available for small companies to help them adopt BIM. In addition, 31% of surveyors claimed that there was no need to use it in their organisation, while 26% said they lacked the necessary technical skills.
55% said that they were currently working with architects firms that use BIM, and half of these respondents said that the architects they have collaborated with have been encouraging them to adopt BIM within their own organisation.
Alan Muse, global director of RICS built environment professional groups, said: “Our research clearly shows that the importance of BIM is not being lost on the UK’s surveying sector with 73% identifying that non-adoption is likely to have a negative impact on the industry as a whole. However, the research also shows that there is still a large percentage of firms that are not currently using BIM technology on a day-to-day basis as part of their operations.
“It’s clear from the research that the industry needs to be doing more to help smaller surveying firms – as well as the wider industry – in getting up to speed with the technology, particularly when it comes to how they can implement the technology across their organisation. This is something RICS is helping to contribute to with its Certificate in BIM Project Management and its regular publication of guidance notes.
“BIM is the future, not just of the surveying industry, but the entire construction sector. It has the power to unlock cost and time efficiencies which will enable the UK industry to become more efficient and competitive on a global scale. With this in mind, surveyors – particularly quantity surveyors – need to lead the charge when it comes to BIM and ensure that they have the right skills in place to implement it across their organisation. What’s more, we need to ensure that the surveying profession is one of the first to be consulted when BIM models are being developed on projects – this helping to maximise cost and resource efficiencies on all projects.”
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