APPLICATION OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS DELIVERY IN NIGER DELTA, NIGERIA

Purpose: Globally, there is tremendous increase in the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) due to the fact that Governments around the world have recognized the inefficiencies affecting the construction industry in general, and have recommended and mandated the practice of Building Information Modelling (BIM) as a strategy to addressing a declining productivity. The study investigates on application of BIM in construction projects delivery in Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. The study focuses on the barriers associated with Building Information Modeling (BIM) in construction project delivery and classified them into three aspects. Design/methodology/approach: Both the qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed in generating preliminary data for field testing. The survey involved one hundred and twenty participants in the six states of nine states of the Niger-delta with notable volume of construction projects and awareness of BIM tools. Data collected were analyzed using mean score and criticality index. Findings: The study revealed that there are three main categories of the barriers in BIM based on the three main types of the stake holders in construction projects. The study unravelled the probability of occurrence and impact of the 14 barriers in construction project delivery. In addition, the study also reveals that seven barriers were fund to be most critical and that 4 of these 7 barriers were associated with the professional participating in construction projects and 3 were associated with the public sectors. Originality/value: The study concluded that appropriate BIM development will enable construction industry to make expected contributions to the economic and development growth of Niger-Delta region of Nigeria. In order to pave way for BIM towards improving productivity and increased efficiency in Nigeria construction industry the research recommended that the Government should support the adoption and implementation of BIM in all capital projects at the three tiers of government and the professional bodies relevant in the construction industry should mandate training and retraining of their members on the application of BIM and forestall strong team work need in BIM concept for efficiency of construction industry in Nigeria.