AUSTRALIA

Education/Training

There are 43 universities in Australia. Of these, 23 institutions claim to have a noteworthy uptake of BIM in their programs. BIM education in these institutions is included acrossa wide range of courses and schools/faculties. This includes the Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment atDeakin; School of Built Environment at QUT; School of Natural and Built Environments at UniSA; and Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology, among others. BIM education, however, transcends the higher education sector and has been extended to vocational education and traininginstitutions. Chief among all is TAFE. Many TAFE (technical) colleges are providing courses where BIM is incorporated into the syllabus, as well as, short courses related to BIM. As an example, in Western Australia, the North Metropolitan TAFE runs a short 3-day course titled ‘Introduction to BIM.’These programs mostlyfocus on the use of BIM software packages. The topic of BIM management or the procedures for working in a collaborative environment are not generally covered.At present, most Australian universities with courses related to AEC have BIM within their courses, in the form of providing BIM-specific subjects or as a part of other subjects within their curricula. The rate of BIM integration shows an outstanding progress. At least 86% have BIM as the major content of standalone subjects. And 78% of AEC higher education institutions have integrated BIM into the content of subjects, which are not traditionally related to BIM. The ideal BIM integrationinto a course, namely, having standalone BIM units along with integration into other subjects is claimed by less than half ofBIM educators. In terms of experience in BIM education, BIM education is Australia resembles a young training experience. Around 40% of institutionshad started BIM education 3-6 years ago; 40% started just 1-3 years ago; only 10% had more than 6 years of experience in BIM education; and 10% have initiated their programs less than 1 year ago. This resembles a field still evolving where established norms of training and education are scarce. In mostBIM subjects, currently offered at Australian universities, students are introduced to BIM authoring tools, mostly from the Autodesk Suite of BIM tools: 3D modelling tools, complemented with scheduling and cost estimation. The assessment tasks of these subjects entail students apply their BIM knowledge to adopt BIM to analyse a real-life case project, develop 3D models and integrate BIM models with the timedimension to generate 4D, grasp 5D BIM via cost integrated modelling and produce technical clash detection reports. There are reports of applying collaboration tools like Revizto, BIM 360, Aconex and Procore in teaching collaborative problem solving in BIM subjects.With the emergence of Digital Engineering (DE) in Australia, some institutions, as discussed next, have moved towards defining subjects allocated to DE. That said, such efforts are in infancy stages. BIM education at Australian universities must be evolved into one of incorporating various dimensions of DE with the elements below incorporated into the AEC-related curricula:-BIM integration with other advanced methodologies like VR, AR, laser scanning and Internet of Things (IoT), digital twins.-Procedures and tools for data extraction from BIM models and analyses of such data.-Defining assessment tasks in the form of multidisciplinary projects with students participating from various schools, faculties fields of study beyond AEC.-Management of data and information across the entire supply change of built assets.-Contractual aspects associated with BIM and DE. This must entail linking smart contracts and Blockchain technology with BIM implementation efforts.These topics are currently missing from most BIM-related subjects at Australian universities. Nevertheless, integration of these is occurring in a basic level. That is, some universities likeSwinburne University refer to the use ofVR and AR for communication purposes(Unit: Driving Collaboration in Projects), and Western Sydney University claims to includeDE, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and modern construction enterprises (Unit: smart construction).UNSW similarly announces offering advanced topics likeHuman-Machine Interaction and advanced digital fabrication –in the Unit Design information management Of all the higher education institutions active in BIM education, most of them offer no independent degree in BIM. However, 21% have independent degrees inBIM or offer BIM as a specialisation or major within the list of their programs.Five universities –out of 23 –offer BIM-relatedCourses/programs at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. For example, Bond University and the University of Western Australia offer Master/Graduate diploma/Graduate certificate in Building Information Modelling.The University of Canberra, University of Melbourne, and Swinburne University offer Major/specialisation courses in BIM atthe undergraduate level.These, on some occasions, are offered asa part of other degrees. For example, Swinburne University has planned to offer a BIM specialisation core unit from 2021, which will be considered as one of the three core units of the 2-yearAssociate Degree of Applied Technologies.MostAustralian universities, however, offer BIM as a subject within their programs/courses. Universities can be classified into three categories in view of the way they offer BIM within their courses:-Category 1: Standalone units allocated to BIM content.These account for 52% of universities -12 universities out of 23. Examples are Deakin University that offers a BIM unit titled Principles of Building Information modelling; Bond University whose BIM unit is Design Communication: BuildingInformation Modelling; and Curtin University with the standalone BIM unit in undergraduate level: Building Information Management, among others. -Category 2:Universities offer BIM-related training with differentidentifiers. Around 34% -8 out of 23 -have their standalone BIM units with various titles. Examples: TheDigital Construction unit at UNSW; and Queensland University Technology with Advanced Building Documentation unit. -Category 3:Allocated to the style of BIM training in which BIM content is integrated into the delivery of other subjects. Almost 78% of the universities -18 out of 23-have incorporated BIM in different subject areas such as cost estimation, scheduling, business management, etc. As an example, Deakin University plans to deliver planning and schedulingsubjects with 4D BIM. Construction Engineering Unit, Construct Planning & Design 2 unit of RMIT University apply BIM for budgeting and scheduling. The University of Canberra introduced BIM in the unit Interior Architecture Technology 3: Systems. BIM has been introduced in a wide range of subjects like building services, design team management and integrated technology too.In late 2019,the Australian BIM Academic Forum (ABAF), conducted a survey of all Australian universities active in BIM education, to provide an updated picture of the landscape of BIM education in Australia. Theyalsoran interviews with experienced BIM educators. The outcome of the study revealed that despite the active shift towards including BIM into the curricula at Australian universities, several barriers hinder the effective integration of BIM into the courses across higher education in Australia. Findings identify four primary categories of barriers to BIM education.These are:-Issues related to the challenges of change management for revolutionising courses. That is, Australian universities still do not treat BIM/DE as an essential element of their programs. As a result, the commitment to change and allocation of resources to developing and improving BIM/DE-related subjects is missing at many institutions.-Curriculum and content, where there is little space for BIM within the crowded existing programs. Changing the existing content requires much effort and is seen as demanding job for BIM champions.-Educators with inadequate skilland knowledge of BIM. Many subjects and units have been taught in traditional ways for many years. Educators find it a demanding and difficult task to update the content and learn the skills for using BIM in such subjects. Moreover, there is no time and workload allocated to this for educators. -Lack of involvement of the industry and government in directing BIM education. Though this has changed in recent years, industry is still too busy and cannot effectively engage in developing content for Australian universities. Besides, universities have not succeeded in securing government support, and have failed in participating in a broader collaborative cultural shift across all higher education institutions in Australia. There is much room for strengthening industry connections, where universities acknowledge the importance of BIM/DE education and allocate resources and time to their staff members to develop BIM skills NATSPEC hasalsobeen providing an Introduction to BIMpresentation to undergraduate studentsatuniversitiesacross Australia for the past 9years. NATSPEC also provides industry seminars on the use of the NATSPEC BIM Project Inception Guide, NATSPEC National BIM Guide, NATSPEC BIM Management Plan, the NATSPEC BIM Object Properties Generatorand the Open BIM Object Standard(OBOS).

Initiatives/Organisations

The BIM ecosystem landscape, and in turn BIM education and training, are constantly evolving in Australia. The most noteworthy development is associated with the emergence of the concept ofDE, which has become the main target of all organisations and initiatives active in digitalising the Australian built environment. Recognising these developmentsand given the sheer size of investment in infrastructure projects in Australia, in November 2016, the Transport and Infrastructure Council endorsed the National Digital Engineering Policy Principles. Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has, however, acted as the driving force behind promoting the adoption of DE in Australia, to maximise quality and efficiency in delivering transport projects. TfNSW has also led the National DE Working Group with senior membership from governments across Australia, as a federally sponsored group established to lead the way towards a consistent national approach to DE for transport infrastructure. The DE journey in Australia, started in 2014, when TfNSW started a consultation schema with industry experts and major stakeholders. This was the outcome of establishing a BIM/DE working group in TfNSW, in 2012. In 2017, TfNSW released the Data and Information Asset Management Policy that formallyrecognises the value and critical importance of structured data. The DE Framework Program –a fully funded program –has been running since 2017, with the aim of bringing together experts from around Australia to develop practical, cost effective DE solutions based on global best practices. The outcomes have resulted in the evolution and release of consecutive versions of DE Framework: Release 1 (Sept 18), DE Framework Release 2 (Apr 19) and Release 3(Nov 2019). Currently, state governments in Australia,as well as the private sector, have recognised the great potential provided by DE for improving various facets of delivering and managing buildings and infrastructure assets and networks. The ongoing development of the digital built environment in Australia is supported with the release of various versions of the Digital Engineering Framework by TfNSW, the Victorian Digital Asset Strategy (VDAS) and thecombined set of VDAS Guidance Part A,B and C, thePrinciples for BIM Implementation in Queensland, and the Australian BIM Strategic Frameworkby the Board of Treasurers, among other initiatives across other states and territories. These documents highlight the need to revisit BIM training atAustralian universities.In September 2018, representative Australian universities announced the formation of the ABAF, topromote the academic aspects of BIM, driven by the growing BIM skill demands from the industry. The objective of the groupis to gain higher and consistent levels of student competence in BIM in tertiary education in Australia, through raising BIM-related curricula standards and promoting research-informed BIM education. With the emergence of DE in Australia, the aims and objectives of ABAF have incorporated the requirements of DE adoption in updating the current BIM-related curricula for Australian universities. As a result, ABAF supports the demand for BIM-ready graduates who go beyond treating BIM as a point solution and focus on effective management of data and information across wider generic fields and disciplines to cover the whole lifecycle of assets. Besides, ABAF recognises the need that BIM issues must become appealing to academic disciplines outside the built environment. The mission of ABAF is to:-Foster integrated collaborative efforts for enhancing the quality and consistency of BIM-related curricula.-Create a dynamic collaborative group to enhance and promote teaching, education, learning and research, linking the research and teaching aspects of BIM.-Develop minimum requirements for BIM-related curricula, with the objective of bridging the gap between BIM university education outcomes and workplace performance requirements.-Provide a collective voice to contribute to policy issues, funding priorities and agenda setting.-Establish an open medium for communication across tertiary education inAustralia, thus, facilitating the sharing of knowledge; experience; case studies; views, etc.-Collaborate for joint learning-based activities, competitions, games and research projects, both in Australia and internationally.buildingSMART’s NationalBIM Initiative report to Federal Government (2012) identified 6 key areas needing attention to drive the construction industry forward. One of the key areas identified was multi-disciplinary BIM education.In recent years, BuildingSMART Australasia has joined the training and education movement in Australia. This has been through introducing the BIMcreds initiative, whichprovide BIM/DE practitioners a mechanism for demonstrating their competence. At the same time, it provides potential employers and project owners with confidence in the skills of the practitioners they hire. A feedback summary at the completion of each assessment offers valuable pointers to areas of weakness, so that every applicant should emerge with a stronger sense of what it means to be an accomplished BIM/DE practitioner. BIMcreds data analytics reports are also informing training providers of common assessment errors so that courses can be modified or developed to address them, thereby creating a wider awareness of essential skills within the industry.Since 2019, buildingSMARTAustralasia also formally accredits three postgraduate university programs in Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) offered by Bond University on the Gold Coast, which are made up of industry-friendly micro-credentialled subjects. Eligible candidates can complete the Masters degree in one year.The Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) and the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF) jointly published their Framework for the Adoption of Project Team Integration (PTI) and BIM at the end of 2014. Education and training in PTI and BIM is a key theme of this framework.As a result, APCC and ACIF established a BIM education working group to develop a framework and objectives for training providers. This was released early in 2017 and titled BIM Education and Skills Framework. The corresponding BIMcreds knowledge testing tool, as discussed above, has been developed by buildingSMART to compliment the APCC/ACIFframework.The Australasian BIM Advisory Board(ABAB) was foundedin 2016 by APCC and ACIF, together with the key standard-setting bodies, NATSPEC, buildingSMART and Standards Australia, to promote best practice and consistent approaches to BIM standards, requirementsand methodologies.The Board links industry leaders and expertise from government, industry and academia.ABAB have published two documents; BIM Process Consistency: Towards a Common Framework for Digital design, Construction and Operation; and Asset Information Requirements Guide –Information required for the operation and maintenance of an asset.

Awareness / Uptake

BIM is being widely used on projects in Australia and by Australian consultants working on overseas projects. The use of BIM for FM/Operations/Maintenance is occurring on more andmore projects across Australia.BIM is also trickling down to smaller consultants and smaller projects. BIM is becoming the norm.Some projectssuch as the Opera House and Pyrmont Bridge in Sydney are using BIM retrospectively to create a working model for FM.TheNATSPECNational BIM Guideand BIM Management Planarebeing increasingly adopted across industryand government both as a framework for building projects as well as within education programs.The NATSPEC BIM website, accessed by clicking on the BIM logo on the NATSPEC homepage,is a useful resource for general information on BIM, BIM R&D projects and the numerous BIM guidelines that are available.

CANADA

Education / Training

The number of colleges and universities offering BIM programs in the last couple of years has increased in Canada, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, in Engineering and Architecture departments.This is in addition to the numerous BIM courses offered by continuing education departments at many institutions.As well, private initiatives are offering online and face to face training sessions on subjects ranging from collaboration to execution plansto a specific BIM subject matter. Several construction associations have also launched their own training programs, focusing on their perspective.The goal of the buildingSMARTCanada (bSC) and Canada BIM Council (CanBIM) Education Committee is to support and aid the development of BIM educational initiatives in Canada, to ensure that a consistent and relevant BIM education and training landscape responds to, meets, and is relevant to the realities of an ever-evolving industry. In a focussed effort to enrich the Canadian BIM-ecosystem, the CanBIM Professional Certification Programwas launched in 2014, with the intention of understanding BIM-related skills and knowledge as well as professional competencies and capabilities in the AECOO industry, in order to provide a point-of-reference and benchmarking to inform educational and training objectives. This program spawned the emergence of the CanBIM Foundations Certification Programwhich, through the establishing of course and program outcomes, assists educational institutions in aligning curriculum in response to industry needs and expectations. To date, the CanBIM Foundations Certification Programhas certified upwards of 30 national and international BIM-related courses or programs. A further goal of the bSC/CanBIM Education Committee is to provide a national and international benchmark for openBIM training.

Initiatives / Organisations

bSIProfessional Certification Program bSCis poised to launchits Professional Certification program across the countryin 2020,with severaltraining providers.Formerly known as Qualification Program, this program will attest to the knowledgeof the candidatesthrough an online test provided by buildingSMART International(bSI).The aim of the program is to provide standard essential knowledge of Open BIM and data management. It provides clear standards and promotes quality training by supporting and accrediting training content that meets a defined body of knowledge. Most importantly, it provides the standards upon which training organisations can develop their course content. This structure ensures fundamental knowledge is acquired and it allows for a uniform online testing certification for individuals. It will therefore guarantee a benchmarked level of knowledge across the country and the world.bSCalso relays information about the new COBie certification offered by bSI.The international scope of these programs is complementary to CanBIM’s certification program at the national level.The buildingSMART Program is a proof of competence for professionals working with BIM. Certified professionals can demonstrate their knowledge is consistent with international standards and best practices.

Practice Manual

The Canadian Practice Manual for BIMwas launched in 2017 and continues to provide direction on the application of BIM practices and processes in Canada. It is being used to develop Module 6 of the Learning Outcome Framework. The practice manual is multi-disciplinary, multi-volume and is a comprehensive guide that reflects both international best practice as well as the use of BIM in Canada. It builds on the Roadmap to deliver value to industry.

CanBIM Certification

TheCanBIM Certification Program continues to be well supported. It was launched in 2014 with the objective of bridging BIM education and the AECOO industry’s implementation and use of BIM through the pursuit of excellence in certification. The pillarsof the CanBIM Certification Program are: -Professional Certification: A tiered, four-level certification program for BIM Professionals assessingknowledge, skill and professional workplace experience.-Foundations Certification: Assessment and certification of courses and/or programs offered by:.Educational Institutions both privateand public. .AEC industry training providers for industry professionals.-Company/Organisation Certification: Assessment and certification of BIM-enabled companies and organisations.-Provision of guidelines for a Continued Professional Development framework for certified individuals.

Satellite Sessions

These sessions are ajoint event where CanBIM/bSC, Industry partners and Academia present on relevant topics within the host region.These events are intended to bridge the gap and unite the interests between Academia and Industry. The host Academic Institution has the opportunity to highlight its BIM related programs, a student from the host school is invited to present a BIM-relevant topic and the remainder of the agenda is filled out with Industry leaders from the host region. It isan opportunity to educate and connect allstakeholders over the course of an evening,while also showcasing the latest developments of the educational institutions across Canada.

Student Affiliate Memberships

CanBIM/bSC now have 20 Post-Secondary Education Institutions in its Membership. As a CanBIM/bSC Member, Educational Institutions canoffer FREE Student Affiliate Membership to alltheir students. The Student Affiliate Membership opens up opportunities for Students to engage with industry leaders across Canada and globally. Students canparticipate on and engage with one of the following nine CanBIM/bSC Committees: -Technology Committee.-General Contractors Committee.-Trades Committee.-Designers Committee.-Owners Committee.-Education, Research & Certification Committee.-International Committee.-Legal Committee.-Marketing Committee.Students are asked to participate in a monthly call to help keep the Committees organised through meeting minutes and agenda creation and dissemination. Students are also asked to participate in working on various industry-based tasks giving them direct exposure to the challenges facing our discipline-based Committees. Further to the CanBIM/bSC Committees, students are continuing to engage as volunteers at the CanBIM/bSCRegional and Satellite Sessions. This is a great networking opportunity to be at an event meeting the industry leaders and learning from the many presentations and panel discussions about the most relevant subject matter.

Student Connect: An Online Networking Platform

Student Connect is an online portal hosted on the CanBIM/bSC Website. This portal allowsstudents to login and explore industry-based research opportunities made available by CanBIM/bSC Members. These research opportunities areposted within the portal by CanBIM/bSC Member companies looking to investigate the value proposition for market ready technologies. Students volunteer or apply to be hired, as research interns, to help deliver on the research goals around the technology or project. Additionally, CanBIM/bSC offer functionality within the same portal for Students to upload a profile and store information and documents relating to their background and experience. This is a place where students and employers can connect for the purpose of research and or potential employment opportunities.CanBIM/bSC are working to create opportunities to deliver significant value for Students, Educational Institutions and its Industry Members.

Awareness/Uptake

Jurisdictions have taken an interest in implementing BIM practices and requirements in official policies and public contracts. It is the case both at the federal and provincial levels, with Quebec, Ontario and Alberta as themain players.The federal government is now considering whether to mandate or encourage BIM processes in public procurement procedures andis currently polling industry players.Other important progress has been made in Quebec, where an industrial cluster was put in place to unite the value chain stakeholders and provide a forum with a plan to encourage best practices with regards to digital processes. This cluster brings togetherprofessional associations of architects, engineers, contractors and unions which have highlighted that education institutions at all levels must integrate digital practice and collaboration. One key focus is to better train workers and professionals to beable to mastercollaboration tools and practices with regards to data management in a life cycle management perspective.

CHILE

Education / Training

BIM education has continued to progress at all academic levels in Chile.At a postgraduate level, during 2019 and the beginning of 2020,CORFO(Economic Development Agency of the Ministry of Economy) granted 647 scholarships for four different BIM training courses through its Human Capital Scholarships program. These courses are specifically focused onBIM for Reviewing, Modelling,Design and Construction of MEP systems.The coursecontent islinked to the Roles Matrix published by Planbim in 2017. With this, the total number of scholarships related to BIM that CORFOhas granted amounts to a total of 1,517.Progress has also continued at the university level, with90% of the universities that have AEC-related degreescurrentlyteaching BIM. This means that 87% of the 108 programs existing in 2019 have BIM content included in their mandatory courses.At the school level, in 2019, the first e+bimpilot was carried out. The initiative, led by Planbim and the Ministry of Education -with the support of 17 professional associations, private companiesand academic institutions -consists of incorporating BIMinto the curricula of technical secondary education.In January 2019, 24 teachers and students from six technical schools were trained by professors from Duoc -a higher education institution -and Comgrap -a software vendor. These school teachers then included the BIM content they had learned in their curricula during the 2019 academic year. With this, BIM was taught toover 160 students.The pilot project finished in December2019, with the internship phase. Planbim managed to gather internships for 34 of these students in renowned architecture, engineering, and construction firms (such as C&D engineering and Badia y Soffia Architects,who were part of the original task force thatsupported the project).Therefore, these students continued learning the practical application of BIM in real projects. More than 20%of the students received offers to continue working in those companies. This is a great success for the project since its ultimate goal is to increase the employability of technicians-who, many times, choose not to continue to higher education -and it also indicates that there is great interest from companies in hiring technicians with BIM knowledge. Given the engagement generated by the first version of e+bim,in 2020 the initiative was expanded to 47 schools in four different regions of the country. This will allow BIM education to reach 1,250 students this year. The aim is that in the future all specialisations related to drawing or construction in technical secondary schools will incorporate BIM.

eLearning

Despite all the efforts from the State, theprivate sector and academia, there are still gaps in BIM trainingin Chile. These gaps are bigger in remote areas of the country, where sometimes there is a lack of infrastructure and/or educatorsto teach BIM. Totackle this issue, Planbim is developing an introductory e-learning BIM program, funded by the Interamerican Development Bank (IADB). The course will be based on international standards and on the Chilean BIM Standard for Public Projects. It will focus on how to work collaboratively through BIM methodology. The course will last approximately 20 hours and will beprovidedfreeof cost.

Initiatives/Organisations

Planbim

Since 2016, Chile has been promoting BIM in public institutions through Planbim, an initiative of the Digital Transformation Committee of CORFO.This initiative, using the procurement capacity of the State as a driving force, is articulating the process of implementing BIM in public institutions, being a requirement of most public tenders as of this year.

BIM StandardforPublic Projects

In June 2019 Planbim published the BIM Standard for Public Projects.Developed through multisectoral work, the document defines and guides the information exchange process between public institutions and private companies aspart ofpublictenders. This standard is aligned with the minimum requirements for the exchange of BIM information definedin several international standards such as ISO19650, ISO16739, ISO29481, and others. It includes more detail regarding how information should be delivered, through the definition of the Levels of Development, Types of Information, BIM Uses, etc. These definitions are based on international standards and conventions, such as the BIM Project Execution Planning Guide from Penn State University, NATSPEC’s BIM Object-Element Matrix, and the Level of Development from AIA and BIMForum USA.It also includes conventions regarding geometric and non-geometric information that must be exchanged in a public project between the Appointing and the Appointed Parties. Itestablishes, as a minimum requirement, the incorporation in BIM models of the information established in the parameters of COBie and the BIM Basic Information Delivery Manualfrom BIM Locket (Netherlands). Despite this standard being developed forpublic projects, it may also be used as a reference forprivate projects. The document is not a norm, but its use is mandatory insofar as public institutions include it in their bidding documents.The document, originally published in Spanish, has been translated to English and Portuguese. As of March 2020, eight months after its publication, the different versions of the document and its associated guides had beendownloaded more than 20,000 times.

ISO NChpublications

In 2018 Chile, through its National Institute for Standardization (INN), generated a mirror committee for BIM related ISO standards. Through the work of this committee, ISO19650 parts1 and 2, ISO12006:3 and ISO29481 parts 1 and 2 have already been published in Spanish as a Chilean norm (NCh).In 2020, this committee will continue working on the translation and publication of ISO standards and participating in the international discussion of the ISO19650 partsthat are currently under development (parts3, 4 and 5).

BIM Exchange Information Requirements

Regarding public organisations, standardised BIM Exchange Information Requirements (EIRs) have been generated for ten different types of projects: hospitals, health centres, bridges, airports, institutional buildings, educational centres, heritage buildings, courts of justice, social housing and public spaces.These EIRs were created by Planbim together with the respective responsible institutions (Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Housing and Urbanism, Judiciary Power) and are focused on requiring only prioritised BIM uses,which were selected to tackle specific problems and needs of the projects and institutions. In 2020, new BIM EIRs will be developed for more types of projects, such as other social housing configurations, and the Chilean Antarctic Base. All these EIRs, which arealigned with the BIM Standard for Public Projects,will be used from this year on wards for the tender of public projects.

Mibim

In October 2019, the BIM Implementation Matrix,or Mibim, was launched. It was developed workingwith representatives of the public, private, and academic sectors. Mibimis a platform designed to help organisations objectively self-assess their current state of BIM implementation.The matrix is organised as per the three phases of BIM use within the organisation: Planning, Implementing and Maintaining. The actions contained in these phases are sorted into four pillars: Strategy, People, Processes and Technology. By selecting a percentage of progress relative to the different actions that make up the matrix, the platform calculates the organisation's level of general maturity, and the level of maturity associated with each pillar and each phase. The resulting maturity level is accompanied by a report indicating the organisation’s current actions and recommendations on the necessary implementation measures, should it require increasing its current maturity level.As of March 2020, five months after launch, 177 companies have registeredfor evaluationin the platform, as well as 28 public institutions and 17 universities, from Chile and further afield.

Latin American Governments BIM Network

In 2019, the Latin American Governments BIM Networkwas formally launched. This network currently includes eight countries fromthe region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay.The group aims to increase the productivity of the construction industry through digital transformation, accelerating national BIM implementation programs through collaborative work that promotes common guidelines and favours commercial and knowledge exchange in the region. In other words, one of its main goals is that the Latin American countries adopt common and aligned standards.Additionally, one of the proposed actions for 2020 is to connect with governmental BIM associations from other countries and regions, in order to foster links between governments that are implementing BIM and thus promote the exchange of lessons learned at a global level.The Latin American Governments BIMNetworkis currently chaired by Chile and has three years funding from the IADB.

Awareness/Uptake

More and more private sector companies are either implementing or interested in implementing BIM. In 2019, the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Universidad de Chile published the third version of theNational BIM Survey. The survey showedthat 34% of the respondents were regular BIM users. Among these respondents, architects have the highest percentage of adoption, with regular usersat41%, engineersat 25%and contractors at 17%.On the other hand, 76% of respondents who arecurrently non-users, occasional users or indirect users, statedthat they will increase their level of BIM use in the next 12 months.

The China BIM Union issue questionnaires in each Advanced Training workshop. According to the survey in 2019, about 96% of respondents have participated in different kinds of BIM technology training (that proportion was 93.6% in 2018). 20% of respondents think their colleagues have a clear understanding on BIM technology, whereas 34% still think that their recognition on BIM technology is relatively limited. Respondents’confusion about BIM technology application mainly focused on the application (23.3%), software(13.2%), data interoperability (9.5%) and standards (8.5%).Since 2019, China BIM Union, as the leader, has organised relevant enterprises of the whole industry chain of the domestic construction industry to conduct the research and publication of BIM-CDM technology standards. Among them, Building Datumize Model (BDM) integrates the data accumulated over the years in different fields in the construction industry into horizontal correlation and unification according to the business characteristics, and forms a vertical stratificationaccording to the data use. Finally, it will have public data service capability. At the same time, to open up the vertical data chain in the construction industry, the unified standards are adopted for the construction, so as to bring up to scratch theinternal and inter-enterprise collaborative work, technology cost reduction, efficiency promotion and business empowerment. CDM is a building components database according to the demand of engineering construction and management. As a data standard, the CDMstandard aims to provide the construction industry with an intermediate data standard which is independent on any specific software/system, and to realise data-driven BIM rather than 3D model-driven BIM. At present, the CDM standard for precast concrete structural members and the CDM standard for the cast-in-place concrete structure havebeen completed and CDM-based data interaction and various applications have been realised through independent research and development software. It is planned to continue the investigation on data standards regarding building mechanical and electrical engineering, geotechnical and underground space.

Both public and private investors started pilot projects to try BIM. There is an increasing cooperation between significant Czech organisations on pilot projects both for infrastructure and buildings. Some of the big contractors are running their own pilot projects.Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade recommended IFC format for information transfer during the whole building lifecycle in April 2019.There is a visible shift from "I would like to do BIM" to "do and try BIM", do projects in 3D CADsoftwareand add useful information, collaboration, try open format such as IFC. However, this is a slow process and many people are still a bit afraid of BIM, or they are just waiting.The main reasons are the difficulty and costs caused by switching to other softwareand processes, the need to go through related education/training and lack of the best practice and Czech BIM standards.In general, there are a few BIM projects currently running in the Czech Republic and the number is increasing, however 2D is still used for mostprojects.The increasing attention of manufacturers of materials and products can be seen. They want to be prepared and they are thinking of how to implement information about their products into 3D CAD and other software. There is also increased interest aroundfacility management and the usage of BIM, which caused development of new softwaretools and methodologies. Rising consciousness of BIM in the Czech Republic is also supported by the need of society to search for modern technologies and their use. In addition to BIM, there is an awareness of the need for electronic communication and digitisation. Therefore, the Czech government has launched a change ofCzech building law and preparation for electronic communication between authorities and builders (builder's portal) in 2019. This should allow the whole building permit process to happen electronically from July 2023.

BIM is now in everyday use in Finland. Large firms such as Skanska, NCC, YIT, SRV and others use BIM for 100% of their own production. Furthermore, BIM sessions (training) relative to specific uses depending upon the profession and activities are organised on a regular manner. Public sector clients are using BIM on some oftheir projects.In Finland BIM always means using open standards: IFC for buildings and LandXML for infrastructure.BIM education and training wascarried out for Vocational Education Teachers and interested UAS teachers as a project topromote BIM education integration on all education levels through Ministry of Education funding.The first draft for the skills and learning outcomes matrices related to BIM and energy-efficiency have been published in BIMEET, a project funded by the EU Horizon2020 research program. BIMEET project participants include LIST Luxembourg, Cardiff University UK, CSTB France, BRE UK, HOT Luxembourg, CRES Greece, VTT Finland and Metropolia UAS Finland. Different levels of BIM courses/trainings will be planned and executed based on the learning outcomes. Collaboration with other EU projects and buildingSMART International, focusing on education and professional certificationsystems, is an ongoing effort to develop EU wide course content and delivery methods.Extensive BIM training for building permit authorities has been launched in Finland's largest cities. BIM based building permit processing has been tried in some citiesin Finland since 2011. In the initial phase,area calculations werechecked on the building models and compliance inspections related to accessibility, housing design and fire and operational safety were carried out.The first BIM model-assisted projects were under permit processing at the 2016 housing fair. A visual city model of the fair area's buildings and surroundings was created during the permit phase, where the user was able to explore the fair area and its buildings using game engine technology.The Ministry of the Environment's guide (2015) on construction plans and studies,identifies the utilisation of BIM models in permit processing. According to the guide, the main drawings may also be presented as a BIM model, depending on the building authority’s readiness. Based on the experience gained in construction supervision, BIM models can already be used well as supporting material for the permitting and supervision process. The models have been most clearly useful in assessing 3D city models, utilising the planned construction’s compliance with the town plan, suitability for the environment and impacts on neighbours.Also, other new practical uses of BIM have been found in many recent open BIM R&D projects in Finland. For example, how models can beused to ensure the safety of buildings. As a result of new use cases very different new needs to BIM competences are recognised and new types of BIM education and training methods should be introduced.

In France, the construction industry remains very heterogeneous in terms of integration of digital technology and BIM, due to the fragmentation of the player types, which are mainly SME’s Numerous significant advances have been observed in different domains, led by actors looking for new values for building, infrastructure and public works. Thegeneralisation of BIM, for all actors, on all types of projects, both public and private, has been continuous since 2014. Thus, in 2019, BIM reached a rate of 66% of overall adoption in France. More specifically, for example, 42% of architectural agenciesare implementing BIM practices in 2020.

The CICrevamped theirBIM Portal to provide a convenient and user friendly platform to access and share more information about BIM including CIC’s BIM trainings, local events, BIM showcases, BIM objects, BIM Talks videos and local and overseas BIM standards and guidelines, etc.The CIC opened a new venue called CIC BIM Spacein April 2019 to showcase innovative BIM technologies and applications, collaborate with industry partners and stakeholders to promote adoption of BIM via seminars and workshops, such as BIM Solution Day and BIM Advanced Workshop, and provide advisory services to industry practitioners, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).In August 2019, the CICpublished two new BIM Standards, namely, BIM Standards for Mechanical Electrical and Plumbingand BIM Standards for Underground Utilities, to elaborate and establish the BIM Standards for specific BIM usages and disciplines. In December 2019, we published CIC BIM Standards for Preparation of Statutory Plan Submissionsto provide general guidelines for reference.Also,in December 2019, the CIC organised the International Conference on BIM as one of the major events of Construction Innovation Expo (CIExpo) 2019. The conference gathered together world class speakers and BIM experts to cover the best practice and latest global development trendsin BIM which attracted around 630 attendees. The CIC also organised the 2nd Asia Pacific Regional BIM Group Meeting and invited representatives from different economies to share their experience and polices on theirdevelopment on BIM.

The BIM Promotion Roundtableis built from most of the private side parties representing building owner/promoter, architecture, engineering and construction and from government parties. In the roundtable very enthusiastic arguments about promoting BIM are made.The role of the consortium is growing with respect to PRISM R&D investment. The BIM Library Consortium Japan (BLCJ) was established for the creation of the BIM object library before the PRISM investment began, and a research committee was established for the BIM building confirmation for PRISM investment, and the related construction related organisations, private companies involved in design, construction and parts production, and software vendors cooperated with these consortium and committee. They are working to develop a common BIM usage environment.

There is strong growth in the diversity of educational offerings. In particular the essential ‘soft skills’ and organisational change are increasingly being discussed.There is also a strong undercurrent in the development of BIM-based quality assurance.The development of knowledge leafletsby the BIR has helpedcreate greaterawareness in the industry about opportunitiesand possibilities created by using BIM.At this moment 5 knowledge leafletshave been developedand translated into English.

The BIM Benchmark survey was run for this sixth year running. It follows an industry control groupof large and influential organisations in New Zealand’s built environment. The number of projects using BIMhas plateaued this year at 59% after only a slight increase in 2018.“BIM is still notthe status quo for undertaking construction projects. We have to weigh up the costs of BIM against the benefitof having the as-built data in model form.This is sometimes difficult to justify.”The expectation is that BIM use on projects will increase, butthis has been the case for severalyears and the increases have not flowed through to actual uptake.

The Government and its legislative body the Norwegian Building Authority are fully aware of the need for digitalisation in the building and construction industry. The Building Authority runs and supports several initiatives in collaboration with industry. Several openBIM projects are on-going in Norway. The focus onthe use of openBIM and data interoperability is moving from the project phase to include also the operational and maintenance phase of a building, with Asset and Facility management integration. Extensive work is also going on for potentiating an open data flow for construction product information.

Continuing the success of Singapore Green Building Week (SGBW) and Singapore Construction Productivity Week (SCPW), BCA partneredwith all the 12 TACs to organise a new flagship event, International Built Environment Week (IBEW) in September 2019. The event will be held annuallyto provide a platform for industry leaders and renowned professionals from the global built environment industry to exchange ideas and experiences on policies, business solutions and technologies, as well as explore business opportunities.As part of the event, an international design competition targeted at full-time local and international students from tertiary institutions in the respective countries will also be held annually to raise awareness and build digital competencies in Green, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) and IDD concepts.

The tipping point for BIM adoption in RSA requires a fundamental shift in building standards and education at the tertiary and institutional level.Many traditional architects and engineers are caught up in the details (the fee structure changes that require clients to invest more to develop a digital twin), losing sight of the bigger picture related to the improved efficiencies the technology will bring to their daily operations. This has created an inertia that spills over to the architect and engineering associations, leaving them unwilling to promote BIM within their ranks. Construction professionals have not embraced the technology as a means to better deliver their projects, with government tenders in particular reinforcing manual processes as part of a wider policy on increasing jobs growth.Design professionals within the RSA AEC industry still largely consider BIM solely as a software tool,failing to fully understand the often overlooked improvement in productivity a more holistic implementation would facilitate. However, BIM adoption is gaining momentum within the African market. The BIM Institute and the BIM Academy Africa have led the charge in skills and resource development. African countries are increasingly using BIM (often to meet international investors requirements) and the demand for this skill set will keep increasing. Graduates and professionals that lack these skills are starting to feel their disadvantage already and will be marginalised more and more both locally and internationally. RSA businesses continue to battle with slow economic growth, a diminishing pool of construction professionals leaving the African shores, a lack of foreign investment and pressure by the South African government to transform the sector faster and more drastically. With these pressures, we see the motivation of South African companies to keep pace with first world countries diminish directly proportionately to the stress that “business as usual” in this environment places on the sector. The billions of Randsproposed for investment into the infrastructure development pipeline is great news, unless you factor in the aging RSA workforce. An inability to replenish this pool of professionals with young, skilled workers with digital skills is putting at risk the country’s ability to ensure these projects are completed on time and within budget. This despite sporting one of the worst youth unemployment rates in the world and with Industry 4.0 having become a government focused initiative. This risk is also becomingclearer to foreign investors looking for opportunities in the country.As a reaction to some of governments other policy decisions, we see RSA companies failing to invest the necessary time and resources to ensure their skills pools are future-proofed andskilled enough in current and future technologies designed specifically to ensure their own success. This short sightedness is lessening RSA’s lead on competing African countries –some of whom have already started the digital standardisation process thatRSA still fails to address. This conservative thinking (and naivety) leaves many local companies with undelivered value. The greatest failure sits with centralgovernment (or influential agencies) that have yet to put their metaphorical foot down and prescribe digital adoption as a catalyst for growth. A case in point is the National Building Regulations which still require submitted drawings for council planning approval to be a 2D Paper submission only (under SANS10400 Part A).

There is still a considerablediscrepancy between the technically oriented BIM curricula at the universities andthe more process and change oriented approach to BIM represented by the industry. BIM implementation in architecture, urban planningand real estate management, is currently more or less neglected in curricula at Swedish universities,with some exceptions.The large consultancies and contractors in Sweden do now develop their organisations to follow digitalisation strategies with BIM to meet future innovations and challenges.A trend, that we also see is that at Swedish practical education schools (YH-utbildningar) have started two-year programs that focus on BIM-applications for entrepreneurs, consultancy and clients. From 2017 to 2019 five educational programs wererunningand today there are ten educational programs on offer, focusing on BIM-knowledgeas a complement to universities starting in the fall of 2020.

Professionals are increasingly aware of the fact that continuing education becomes important especially as far as BIM is concerned. Over the years, an increasing number of events and courses on this topic popped up all over the country. Additionally, the Swiss BIM Congress came into life in 2016 and is implemented on a yearly basis.A new platform is the openBIM Forum that took part for the first time at the beginning of 2019. A congress driven by the major BIM software providers with over-average content delivered by first movers in the BIM market (architects, planners, contractors, owners).In fall 2018 the Federal Council adopted its Digital Switzerlandstrategy for the next two years,demanding in its action plan that the federal government and all federally affiliated companies make the BIM method mandatory from 2021for real estate,and from 2025 for infrastructure facilities.Together with the COVID-19 pandemic in spring, this will have a deep impact on virtualisation and digitalisation of the building industry. Being reluctant to,or unskilled,in using digital tools, many are now (more or less) forced to apply digital media due to working from home. This will lead to a change in the acceptance and understanding of digital processes, of whichBIM is part.

The BIM AcademicForum (BAF –discussed later) published Embedding building information modelling (BIM) within taught curriculumin 2013 and Current position and associated challenges of BIM education inUK higher education in 2015. The latter report indicated that BIM isnow becoming widespread across the various levels of higher education, albeit ad hoc and without consistency. In the main, this tends to be driven by individual academics or schools/departments that have a particularinterest in the area of BIM and recognise its importance in the education of professionals. Over the last few years, a number of BIM specific programmes at Masters level have emerged. A number of BIM specific BTEC level programmes have also now begun toemerge. Apart from architecture and construction related disciplines, there are overall low levels of interest in BIM incorporation in teaching across built environment related disciplines. At the cutting edge where BIM is fully embedded into programmes/modules, architecture maintains a significant edge over all other built environment disciplines.BAF held its first international conference at Glasgow Caledonian University, 13th-15th September 2016. Thisbrought together delegates from both industry and academia to discuss aspects around Education & Training, Process & Standards, Strategy & Implementation, Knowledge Management & Decision Support, BIM Maturity & Assessment, Asset Handover & Operational Management, Technology. The programme also included a workshop to explore establishing a European BIM Academic Network to bring together the European national BIM academic forums. BAF are currently focusing on taking the first report of embedding BIM within the taught curriculum forward by drilling down to disciplinary perspectives at the undergraduate level. BAF are also aligning their activities in support of the UK BIM Alliance, and the Upskilling work stream, in particular.Within the UK, Secondary, Further (FE) and Higher Education (HE) are devolved matters and in Scotland these fall within the Scottish Government’s remit. According to sources published in 2018, Scotland has 26 FE and 18 HE Institutions. Although the Scottish Government acts as the funding agency for HE built environment programmes, accreditation is normally undertaken by professional bodies. (PBs) During the last year, the focus for severalbuilt environment PBs has been in supporting the transition from the PAS 1192 to the ISO 19650 suite of BIM standards.The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educational awards at secondary and FE levels. The SQA acts as a single awarding body to devise, develop and validate qualifications and quality-assure education and training establishments which offer SQA awards. The SQA also publishes the Scottish Credit and Qualifications (SCQF) framework which offers a structured and incremental pathway (Levels 1-12) for education and training which spans between secondary and tertiary levelqualifications and maps equivalences between FE/HE provision and workplace-based learning programmes.Within FE provision, the current suite of built environment awards is being refreshed. The SQA’s Architectural Technology review team are in the processof constructing revised HNC and HND programmes. On a very positive note, it appears that within named awards, interdisciplinary activities will have a raised profile. It is likely that the BIM Professional Development Award (PDA) will be offered as an optional 30 credit Unit. The BCTG Construct funded research project hosted by Glasgow College has now published a blended learning resource to help Scotland’s construction sector close technical skills gaps by offering site supervisors access to online learning resources including an introductory module in BIM.A number of HE centres including Napier, Heriot Watt, Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian and the University of West of Scotland continue to engage with BIM, either through the provision of named awards and/or by embedding BIM/digital in undergraduate/postgraduate teaching and research. Pockets of expertise have developed. These include Glasgow School of Art Simulation and Visualisation facility which explores interfaces between science, technology using advanced 3D digital visualisation and interaction technologies. Heriot Watt University’s Scan-vs-BIMconcept has investigated the comparison of reality capture 3D point clouds with BIM models to offer opportunities for enhancement of construction project delivery, for example with quality control across design and construction processes.The Robert Gordon University’s Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment continues to participate in cross-discipline built environment projects through European ERASMUS links and the International Congress for Architectural Technology (ICAT) networks. Collaboration is developed through partnerships with centres in Spain, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Typically, undergraduate projects develop simulatedBIM projects in team-working environments framed by real-world protocols such as ISO 19650. These projects use digital media to facilitate developing an analytical approach to deep learning in areas fundamental to built environment education;site appraisal, brief development and environmental analysis.Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) is one of eight industry led and demand driven Innovation Centres supported by Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and 14 ScottishUniversity partners. CSIC’s remit is to support businesses in delivering transformational change in construction. CSIC’s BIM in Practice programme was developed to support businesses from their initial awareness of BIM practices to the continuous development of their BIM journey, offering support at all the following stages:-Awareness: For businesses unfamiliar with BIM, introductory workshops offered an overview of the benefits ofworking with BIM can bring to an organisation and the practices and processes involved.These workshops were hosted at the CSIC Innovation Factory near Glasgow, by outreach at various sites across Scotland and as an e-Learning module.-Understanding: Acknowledging that BIM requires significant investment and commitment of resources to any organisation considering adoption, the CSIC BIM For Business Leaders e-Learning Module was designed to enable greater understanding of BIM by CEOs, finance directors and other senior leaders involved in strategic decision making.-Implementation: Covering the areas involved in implementing BIM such as People, Processes, Systems and Practices, these workshops supported this stage in an organisation’s BIM journey. Eight business focussed events were held throughout Scotland. In addition, four workshops focused on particular industry groups such as architecture and design.These workshops provided greater detail on the specifics of implementing BIM for businesses.Since 2015, the BIM Regionshave been actively seeking partnerships with local Higher Education Institutions. The London and SE BIM Region formed a partnership with the University of Westminster and ran a series of free BIM Eventsaligned to its Masters programme. thinkBIMis run by the Centre for Knowledge Exchange at Leeds Beckett University in partnership with the Yorkshire and Humber BIM Region. The South West BIM Region is run in partnership with University of West England. The BIM Academyis partnered with Northumbria University. Design, Engineer and Construct(DEC), run by Class of Your Own, is an accredited learning programme for secondary-school age students and has been expertly developed to create and inspire the next generation of Built Environment professionals. Class of Your Own are leading the BIM4Educationinitiative. This initiative has recently been awarded CITBfunding to get teachers and students excited about BIM and construction.One recently published report has shown how the DEC program has worked well in Manchester as a partnership between the University of Salford and St Ambrose Barlow RC High School.There are now many providers of BIM training within the UK. As identified above, the BIM Regions have partnered with local universities to provide free events. Other providers of paid for content include: -Professional Institutions: .Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)..Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT)..Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB)..Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)..Building Services Research and InformationAssociation (BSRIA). .Building Research Establishment (BRE)..Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)..National Federation of Builders (NFB)..British Standards Institute (BSI) -The BIM Campusprovides a six-weekintensive course.-The B1M is an online video resource which includes a BIM for Beginnersprogramme.Many of the AEC companies have run their own in-house training programmes which are compulsory to attend and require a certain level of attainment.There is significant body of research being undertaken into BIM. Each Higher Education Institution has its own research programme and there are also numerous Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) being undertaken. KT4BIMinvolves BIM4SME acting as a client to avirtual project with numerous KTPs; the objective is to achieve a Level 2 compliant project.

The UK Government influenced a significant movement within the UK AEC industry by requiringthe use of BIM on public sector projects in its 2011 Government Construction Strategy. The primary objective of the strategy was to sustainably reduce the construction costs incurred by the public sector. BIM was identified as one of the principal initiatives to achieve the objective and was supported by the creation of the BIM Task Group. Training and Educationwas one of the Task Group’s four work-streams and a keyoutput was the BIM Learning Outcomes Framework.As a consequence, there has been a significant increase in the provision of formal academic qualifications, training, accreditation and research.The subsequent Government Construction Strategy 2016-2020maintained the emphasis on developing digital and data capability in construction, although the BIM Task Group was no longer funded to support the wider adoption of BIM. The formation of the UK BIM Alliance has taken on the mantel from the BIM Task Group andthere is a work-stream dedicated to upskilling the industry. The Alliance was formed in late-2016.The BIM Task Group instigated a community of special interest groups with the aim of “raising awareness of BIM and promoting a shared understanding of the value proposition and issues affecting the implementation of BIM”,as stated in the BIM4 Community Charter. Each group determines their own approach and certain groups are seen to be significantly more active e.g. BIM4SME and the BIM Regions.The BAF is the BIM4 Community special interest group representing Higher Education. Formed in 2011, BAF consists of a group of representatives from a large number of UK universities, with the aim of creating a dynamic collaborative group to enhance and promote teaching and learning together with the research aspects of BIM, therefore serving as a conduit between industry demands and BIM education in higher education institutions. Scottish Government aspires to be at the forefront of the digital economy and is resolute that digital technologies will form an integral part of the country’s transition to a low carbon economy. The use of BIM Level 2 was introduced by the Scottish Governmentin April 2017with a view to encouraging its adoption across public sector contracts.The overall objectives were to increase efficiencies, reduce costs and promote collaboration within the Scottish construction industry. At this time, a wider ranging challenge facing built environment educators is how best to equip undergraduates with skills necessary to support industry across a range of digital-centric themes which research has identified as being key to forward travel for construction including:-Higherdefinition surveying and geolocation, rapid digital mapping and estimating.-Next generation 5D building information modelling.-Digital collaboration and mobility, moving towards paperless projects from the office to the workforce.-The Internet of Things and advanced analytics –intelligent management of built assets.-Future-proof design and construction –designing with methods and materials of the future.These imperatives are likely to assume greater urgency in a post COVID-19 world as construction regroups, recalibratesand develops robust strategies to ensure survival as a viable industry.As digitisation pushes the boundaries of BIM and what it means to a range of built environment stakeholders, there may be growing demand for built environment education to support wide ranging digital processes which underpin the development of environmentally sensitive and necessarily resilient solutions for future buildings/infrastructure. In that context, contemporary reference standards such as ISO19650 will fit within a bigger picture framed primarily by construction’s response to the climate emergency.Scottish Futures Trust(SFT) is Scottish Government’s agency tasked with improving publicly funded infrastructure investment. SFT liaises with the public and private sectors to deliver value-for-money on all public sector infrastructure investment across the country.The SFT’s BIM Portal offers a range of online tools. These tools are designed to facilitate decision making to support BIM implementation involving the procurement of public sector building and infrastructure projects. These online resources include the SFT Grading Tool which predicts the level of BIM maturity which could be appropriately applied to a project, a return on investment calculator, whole life appraisal and BIM viewing tools.

The government’s BIM requirementsand the subsequent activity of the BIM Task Group and the wider BIM community has significantly influenced the awareness and take up on BIM within the UK. This is evidenced above by the broad range of support and resources available to via the UK BIM Task Group Website, the BIM Regions and BIM4 groups such as BIM4M2 and BIM4SME. This is supported by a frequent programme of conferences run by amongst others the professional institutions.In addition, institutions and industry related journals have sections on their websites specifically focused on BIM, which together with the plethora of BIM-specific resources such as BIM Plus, support the growing awareness of BIM within the UK. The proposed programme of the UK BIM Alliance includes a work-stream focused on Awareness and being the champion for BIM Level 2.The Government Construction Strategy 2016-2020indicatedthat progress hadbeen made in “developing digital capability in design and construction, with all departments on target to procure assets using Building Information Modelling (BIM) Level 2 by 2016”. The strategic objective within this strategy is “increasing BIM Level 2 maturity across government will enable departments to gradually move to BIM Level 3, which would support a fully integrated and collaborative process” (point 25).The Government in conjunction with industry will develop the next generation of digital standards to enable BIM Level 3 adoption underthe remit of the Digital Built Britain Strategy.In common with the rest of the UK, construction in Scotland faces many well-rehearsed challenges. A relatively small core of major Tier 1 contractors is supported by long supply chains of sub-contractors and suppliers. COVID-19 has now interrupted many projects, causing significant delays not least because supply chains have been severally disrupted. Some of the largest construction firms active in Scotland, are UK-based, others are controlled from abroad.Low levels of investment in training and cash flowchallenges are among factors which mitigate against movement away from established business models. Construction has a complex and organic structure, is risk averse, slow to react to change and does not respond well to force feeding.Recent feedback suggests that the Level 2 BIM methodologies promoted by the UK Government from 2011-2016 have not had significant impact on many construction firms. Despite Scottish Government’s aspiration to develop a digitally enabled world-class construction industry, engagement with BIM is perceived to involve significant risk for many of the SME and micro-organisations which comprise 90% of Scotland’s construction sector by numbers.Feedback from one university actively involved in partnering with large contractors suggests three levels of contemporary activity. At the first (highest) level contracting organisations may regard BIM as a sub-set of initiatives to digitise all business processes with a view to eliminating waste, adding value and incorporating automation where possible. That is a trajectory which moves towards the Industry 4.0 model which originated in Germany.At the second level, contractors may be using BIM models, but often with gaps in workflows for many reasons including engagement and operational challenges within supply chains.The third level is business-as-usualwhich suggests little or no engagement with BIM processes. It is thought that many/most housebuilders in Scotland would fit the third category.Around 1,800 firms are directly engaged in house building activity in Scotland. 8 of the country’s top 150 companies are residential house builders. That profile suggests a significant gap when a key player in the Scottish construction sector does not appear inclined to engage with BIM processes.Although various strategies and interventions continue to support the development of BIM education across FE and HE, clearly Scottish Government’s support for publicly funded projects to be BIM enabled has not transformed the construction sector. Post COVOD-19, sustainable development goals are likely to feature more significantly in construction education/practice for the foreseeable future. Embedding strategies for resilience into business plans may be key to the survival of many construction related businesses.In November 2017, the UK Government launched a centre of excellence in Cambridge to champion the “digital revolution” in the built environment. The Centre for Digital Built Britain’s primary function is to assist with delivery of a smart digital economy for construction and infrastructure. Central to that initiative is the concept of digital twins. The aim is to develop digital protocols which will underpin transformation of the UK construction industry’s approach to planning, constructing, use and maintenance of buildings/infrastructure. In that context, the UK Government set out a clear vision and powerful agenda for harnessing the power of digital technology, data capture, and analytics. The extent to which the initiative will harmonise with or overtake ISO19650 BIM imperatives and impact on education/training for Scotland’s construction sector remains to be seen.

The United States General Services Administration has produced,back in 2003,The National 2D-3D BIM Program,which has had a strong influence on the rate of adoption by the design/construction community by mandating its use on all GSA projects.It now claims that72% of all construction firms have in a strong way adopted BIM strategy and realised significant cost savings in doing so.Many states, including Wisconsin and Connecticut have adopted a similar mandate with other states like Massachusetts, Utah, Georgia, Virginia, Washington and Connecticut also looking to do so. This activity at the state level has put an onus on universities to apply more emphasis on BIM education and facility standards to include BIM technology. Indiana University and Penn State University have both issued BIM standards on all campus projects of 5 Million or more of construction costs.Other organisations like the National BIM Standard-United States® (NBIMS-US™)by the National Institute of Building Sciences, 2015 (NBIMS-US) provides consensus based standards through referencing existing standards, documenting information exchanges and delivering best business practices for the entire built environment. The buildingSMART alliance is among the list of the technology programs. Other organisations leading the way towards national BIM adoption include:-The CAD BIM Technology Center: According to the center’s website, the center sets standards, promotes system integrations and provide assistance for the installation, training, operation and maintenance of BIM based systems.-The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Building Information Management and Modeling: The NAVY claims to be the first Federal Government Agency to leverage BIM with thegoal of digital management of facilities.Their focus has been on standardised delivery of digitised facility data, 2D drawings and 3D parametric models.-The Air Force Building Information Modeling for MILCon Transformation: The agency under the USACE ECB 2018-7 Advanced Modeling Requirements on USACE Projects --Category: Directive andPolicysets the requirements for the advanced modeling requirements on all USACEprojects.The policy states as one criteria: All Army and Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) (ref d) design and/or construction projects, regardless of funding source or acquisition method, must utilise advanced modeling to generate design, construction, record, and space utilisation drawings deliverables.-Department of Veterans Affairs: The agency provides BIM standards covering all aspects of project submission including items like the Room data sheets and drawing deliverable requirements.

As reportedin previous years it is clear from the responses received that BIM education and BIM awareness/uptake is stillat different levels of implementation across the globe. Most countries are reporting BIM education being provided to Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) students by their higher education and technical training institutions. As previously reportedingeneral, the number of courses being offered is not significantly increasing year on year, with countries such as Australia, Canada,Chile andFinland perhapsbeing the exception. This may indicate that the quantity of courses offering some form of BIM education may be reaching saturationin many countries.However, many countries and regions are reporting that the contentof such courses isnow being expanded to include more sophisticated elements of BIM, such as BIM for FM, Costing, openBIM information exchange,BIM management, etc.as oppose tosimple modellingand use of specific BIM software.Most countries’higher education institutions are includingstructured BIM education within the syllabus of their AEC courses, atboth an undergraduate and postgraduate level.Countries such as Australia, Chile, China, Finland, Norway, Sweden, UK and USA are reporting a significant volume of coursesand subjectsavailable. Many vocational education institutions are also providing BIM education to the industry’s workforce. Studiescarried outby some of the countriesindicatethat there are many challenges being faced by educators in regards to incorporatingBIM into the curricula, such as the knowledge base/skills of educators, resourcesavailable -both financialand physical -and a simple resistance to changeby educational institutions and their educators.A lack of structured BIM educational coursework, consistent across educational institutions, has also been reported as a barrier to the progression of BIM education. Many countries have also discussedin this year’s report about the introduction of the buildingSMART International Professional Certification programme and how that is being implementedwithin their respective countries. It has also been noted that many training providers are now looking to the requirements of this programme todevelop coursework specific to the BIM requirements of industry.Othercertification schemesto validate the BIM knowledgeof professionals in industry also continueto be reported with countries such as Australia, Canada, South Africa, UK and USAhavingall reported the existence or development of such schemes in their respective countries.BIM awareness and BIM uptake generally appear to have hit a saturation point in many countries, with it being business as usual for many. However, this is not strictly a consistent global trend, with BIM reported as being widely adoptedin countries such as Finland, Norway and Australia, and even required by government,in some countries, such as Singapore and UK, whilst still only being considered in others, such as Czech republic and South Africa.Ingeneral,the provision of BIM education in each country and region isbeing sufficiently covered in terms of thebasics and the hands-ontechnical skills of using particularBIM software packages. The challenge in many countries appears to be in taking this further, to fully prepare students for the digital world in which they will operate andto provide them with theBIM skillsthat their industrywill demand in the future.However,as observed in previous years, liaisonand partnership between education providers and industryis improving, which shouldultimatelylead toa coordinated solution ofthe training being provided, meeting the needs of industry.

NATSPEC and ICISwould like to thank contributors,past and present,who have provided input to this report for their respective countries.Note: Where more than one individual from any particular organisation has provided input, the name of the organisation has simply been listed once.

Dr. M. Reza Hosseini –Deakin University (Australia)-Simon Brodeur –buildingSMART Canada (Canada)-Planbim (Chile)-China BIM Union (China)-Shenzhen Municipal Design & Research Institute Co. Ltd. (China)-Daniel Cihelka –URS (Czech Republic)-Petr Vokoun –BIM Project (Czech Republic)-Päivi Jäväjä –Metropolia University ofApplied Sciences (Finland)-Emmanuel Natchitz –ESITC (France)-Construction Industry Council (Hong Kong)-Masaki Muto –Building Research Institute (Japan)-Martijn Carlier –BIM Loket (Netherlands)-Radboud Baayen –Stabu (Netherlands)-Nick Clements –Masterspec (New Zealand)-Alessia Bellini –buildingSMART Norway (Norway)-BCA Academy –Building and Construction Authority –BCA (Singapore)-Digitalisation, Built Environment Research and Innovation Institute –Building and Construction Authority -BCA (Singapore)-Gustav Jansson –Luleå University of Technology (Sweden)-Johannes Herold –Swiss National Agency for Construction Nationalization –CRB (Switzerland)-Graham Paterson –Letsbuildigital (United Kingdom)-Gilles Letourneau –Deltek(United States)

Jennifer Macdonald –buildingSMART Australia (Australia)-Dr. Ronald Webber –Central Queensland University (Australia)-Dr. Saeed Banihashemi –University of Canberra (Australia)-Canada BIM Council (Canada)-David Watson –Digicon Information Inc. (Canada)-Susan Keenliside –buildingSMART Canada (Canada)-Linda Newton –buildingSMART Canada (Canada)-Rakennustieto (Finland)-Tomi Henttinen –buildingSMART Finland (Finland)-Institute of International Harmonization for Building and Housing –iibh (Japan)-Rolf Huber –Masterspec (New Zealand)-Geir Johansen –Norconsult (Norway)-Steen Sunesen –buildingSMART Norway (Norway)-Chris Allen –Nelson Mandela University (South Africa)-Mark Grant –Construction Communication Network (Pty) Limited (South Africa)-Vaughan Harris –BIM Institute South Africa (South Africa)-Niclas Andersson –Malmö University (Sweden) BIM Academic Forum (United Kingdom)-John Gelder –NBS (United Kingdom)-Jason Underwood –University of Salford (United Kingdom)-Rob Garvey –University of Westminster (United Kingdom)-Christopher Bushnell –Arcom (United States)-James Robertson –Robertson Sherwood (United States)