From information transmission to engagement in practice: A study on BIM enabled construction projects

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is proposed as a way of dealing with fragmentation through improving information transmission within project working environments. In early studies, information transmission was seen objectively as transferring data from one place to another. However, mere information transmission is not enough to improve engagement in practice. Instead, using information transmission need to create meaning for project participants to carry out their work. Increasingly, BIM is been used to deal with the complex actives in construction projects. However, there have been questions on challenges during transmitting information and its failures. This research establishes challenges of information transmission and explores how meaning is created from information in BIM enabled construction projects. Data has been collected through conducting twenty semi-structured interviews and a case study approach which encompasses two fully integrated BIM enabled construction projects which fall between £30-100 million. Findings showed that information overload, information retrieval and information asymmetry are common problems faced in BIM enabled construction projects which make information difficult to transmit within the project environment. It is concluded that communicative, inherent, symbolic and contextual meanings need to be considered together with information to enable engagement in practice.