Contractual issues in the total use of building information modelling

In the UK, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been embraced by a number of designers who are aware of its advantages, particularly in enhancing the ability to share design information. A smaller number of leading contractors have also adopted its use; in some cases, insisting that their subcontract designers and other key supply chain members adopt compatible software. It is not clear whether any project has yet reached the stage where all participants share all information through a BIM environment. Nevertheless, this situation is a predictable outcome of its continuing uptake. Whether in Williamson's "neo-classical" approach to transaction costs to Macneil's relational analysis of contractual behaviour, information is a critical issue for contract theory. The paper explores the problems that arise when systems that facilitate (or even demand) the costless sharing of information, exist alongside a contractual context that presupposes its guarded ownership.