The Business Value of BIM in South Korea

Transcription

1 SmartMarket Report The Business Value of BIM in South Korea How Building Information Modeling Is Driving Positive Change in the South Korean Construction Industry Premier Corporate Partner Corporate Contributor Sponsors Global Services

2 Design and Construction Intelligence SmartMarket Report President Keith Fox Vice President Product Development Kathryn E. Cassino Research & Analytics / Industry Insights & Alliances Vice President, Industry Insights & Alliances Harvey M. Bernstein, F. ASCE, LEED AP Senior Director, Research & Analytics Burleigh Morton Director, Green Content & Research Communications Michele A. Russo, LEED AP Reproduction or dissemination of any information contained herein is granted only by contract or prior written permission from McGraw-Hill Construction. Copyright 2012, McGraw-Hill Construction, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Business Value of BIM in South Korea SmartMarket Report Guest Editor in Chief Ghang Lee, Ph.D., Associate Professor Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea Guest Editor Jaewook Lee, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Sejong University, Seoul, Korea Editorial Advisor and Contributor BIM Stephen A. Jones, Senior Director, Contributing Art Director BIN Communications, Seoul, Korea Contributors Miyoung Uhm Jongsung Won Sungil Ham, Ph.D. Younghyun Park Content of this report was produced by Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea under contract to. For further information on this SmartMarket Report or for any in the series, please contact Research & Analytics 34 Crosby Drive, Suite 201 Bedford, MA MHC Analytics@mcgraw-hill.com About McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC), part of The McGraw-Hill Companies, connects people, projects and products across the design and construction industry, serving owners, architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, building product manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, distributors and adjacent markets. A reliable and trusted source for more than a century, MHC has remained North America s leading provider of construction project and product information, plans and specifications, industry news, market research, and industry trends and forecasts. In recent years, MHC has emerged as an industry leader in the critical areas of sustainability and interoperability as well. In print, online and through events, MHC offers a variety of tools, applications and resources that embed in the workflow of our customers, providing them with the information and intelligence they need to be more productive, successful and competitive. Backed by the power of Dodge, Sweets, Architectural Record, Engineering News-Record (ENR), GreenSource and 11 regional publications, serves more than one million customers within the $5.6 trillion global construction community. To learn more, visit us at construction.com.

3 The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Introduction T he first building information modeling (BIM) conference in the US was held in 2005 at the Georgia Institute of Technology. About one hundred people from the industry and academia gathered to talk about the future of BIM. In April 2008, three years after the first conference held in the US, the first BIM conference in South Korea was held by buildingsmart Korea. More than 1,000 people participated in the first BIM conference in Korea. Since then, two major academic institutes, the Korea Institute of Building Information Modeling and the Korea Construction IT Convergence Institute, have been founded. Several online BIM communities including All-BIM and Must-BIM have been formed. Thus, how far does BIM reach in the Korean architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry compared to other countries? Is South Korea falling behind? Or considering the speed of development in information technology (IT) in Korea, is South Korea already ahead of other counties in terms of implementing BIM? has been studying BIM adoption and implementation around the world since 2007 and publishing the findings through its SmartMarket Report series. This SmartMarket Report surveys the status of BIM adoption in Korea, which has the fourth largest construction market in the Asia-Pacific region after China, India, and Japan, and further explores the business benefits of BIM that Korean users are experiencing. It also reports on several important BIM projects and leading BIM efforts by public and private organizations. To provide a global perspective, the Korean data is compared to the SmartMarket Report 2009 and 2012 North America BIM studies and the SmartMarket Report 2010 Western Europe BIM study. Readers should understand the comparison data in terms of the differences in survey years. The changes between 2009 and 2012 in North America could be a good indicator of what might happen in Korea in the near future. The survey findings, case studies, and BIM leader interviews will share not only the encouraging success stories of BIM but also the challenges that the companies faced in implementing new technologies and processes in the Korean construction industry. While searching for candidates for the BIM case studies, we learned that many interesting BIM projects are underway in Korea. Among them, we selected the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), the Yeosu Expo 2012 Theme Pavilion, the NCsoft R&D center, and the new Korea Power Exchange building for their uniqueness and significance. Each had a SmartMarket Report turning point that transformed resistance and indifference toward BIM in the beginning of the project to positive and proactive participation in BIM efforts, yielding important benefits for multiple parties, often through simple but tangible improvements in productivity and team effectiveness. Other BIM projects not included in this report, but noteworthy especially for those who may want to know about more BIM projects in Korea, include the Korean Airline H2 Hotel, the NHN headquarters office, the Jamsil Lotte World Supertower project, the Jamsil Superpower Energy Center, the Posco Green Building, the headquarters of the Korea Engineering Consultants Corp., a new Seoul Eastern District Courthouse, a new Hyundai Steel building, a new Water Museum project, the KEPCO Northern Kyunggi Province building, the new Sungkyunkwan University Library, the IAAF World Championships Daegu 2011 Training center, the new headquarters of the Korea East-West Power Co. Ltd., and the Samsung Electronics S3 Project & M Project. The list also included several international BIM projects being built by Korean contractors, such as a Singapore NTF hospital project and the new Qatar National Museum. In addition, this report includes insightful interviews with BIM leaders in the private and public sectors. We are excited to introduce and share these interesting BIM stories in Korea with our readers. We thank all the participants in the BIM survey and interviews for sharing their time, experience, and thoughts with us. We hope that this issue of SmartMarket Report will be the catalyst for motivating many organizations inside and outside Korea that are hesitating or struggling to adopt or continue BIM. Ghang Lee, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Yonsei University Jaewook Lee, Ph.D. Stephen A. Jones Assistant Professor, Senior Director, Sejong University McGraw-Hill Construction Ghang Lee,Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Building Informatics Group (BIG) in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea His main research interests include Building Information Modeling (BIM), rule-based design validation and engineering, interoperability issues, and construction automation. Dr. Lee has a BS and an MS in Architectural Engineering from Korea University, and a Ph.D. from the College of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before he began his Ph.D. study, he worked at a construction company. Dr. Lee is the recipient of many awards for excellence in research, papers, and teaching. Dr. Lee has developed many software applications and systems, such as the extended Process and Product Modeling (xppm) tool and the Tower Crane Navigation System (TCVS). He serves as a technical advisor to several governmental and private organizations in Korea. Furthermore, he is the Associate Editor of the international journals and Chief Editor of The BIM. Jaewook Lee, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Architectural Engineering at Sejong University in Seoul, Korea. His research interests lie in exploring the application of information technologies to architecture, which includes computer-aided architectural design and construction, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Intelligent Building Systems (IBS), collaborative design, and smart city. Dr. Lee has a BS and an MS in Architectural Engineering from Yonsei University, an M.Arch. from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. After his BS, he worked as a site engineer for the construction company Daelim Industrial Co., and after his Ph.D., as a senior research engineer for the telecommunications company KT Corporation. Dr. Lee has published several academic journal and conference papers, and also serves as an editor of The BIM. Stephen A. Jones leads McGraw-Hill Construction s initiatives in BIM, interoperability and integrated project delivery as well as developing alliance relationships with major corporations for technology and content. Prior to joining McGraw-Hill, Jones was a vice president with Primavera Systems, one of the world s leading providers of project management software. Prior to that, he spent 19 years in creative, marketing and management roles with design firms. Most recently he was a Principal and Board of Directors member with Burt Hill, one of the world s largest architectural and engineering firms. Jones holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of Business and a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University. 1

4 SmartMarket Report Table of CONTENTS The Business Value of BIM in South Korea 04 Executive Summary Data Adoption 08 Overview 08 Key Findings 09 Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe 10 Introduction 10 User Differences 11 BIM Attitudes of the Non-BIM User Group 12 Depth of Implementation 13 BIM Adoption by Company Size 14 Non-users Perception of BIM Activity in Their Market vs. Actual 15 Obstacles to BIM Adoption and BIM Implementation 16 Potential Adoption Drivers 17 Future Outlook 17 Conclusions Léon Wohlhage Wernik Architekten, Berlin (Right); DGLa Orion Capital Management and Altarea Cogedim (Front Cover) Overall Value of BIM 18 Overview 18 Key Findings 18 Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe 19 Introduction 19 Overall Perceived ROI 20 User Differences in Perceived ROI 21 Formal Measurement of ROI 22 Where Users Invest 23 Future Value of BIM 24 Conclusions Internal Business Value of BIM 25 Overview 25 Key Findings 26 Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe 26 Introduction 26 Top-Rated Business Benefits 27 Differences in Perceived Benefits by Proficiency Level 28 Improving Business Value 29 Challenges to Improving Value 30 Conclusions 2

5 Left: A Bird s Eye View of the DDP Main Building by courtesy of Samsung C&T Contents Below - Front cover image: Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza, Seoul, Korea by courtesy of Gehry Technologies 31 Project Value of BIM 31 Overview 31 Key Findings 31 Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe 33 Introduction 33 Value by Project Phase 34 Project Properties Affecting the Project s Success 35 Perceived Value of BIM Five Years from Now 35 Conclusions 36 Player Value of BIM 36 Overview 36 Key Findings 36 Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe 37 Introduction 37 Who Gets the Most Value? 38 Beneficiaries of BIM by User Type 39 Perceived ROI by User Type 40 Benefits from BIM by User Type 41 Conclusions 42 Case Studies 42 From Impossible to BIMpossible - Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) Project 46 Quantifying the Value of MEP Coordination - NCSoft R&D Center, Pangyo Techno Valley 48 Modeling a Sea Creature of Concrete and Steel - The Theme Pavilion, Expo 2012 Yeosu, Korea 50 Lessons from an Early Open BIM Project - The New Korea Power Exchange Headquarters Building,Naju, Korea 52 Thought Leader Perspective 52 Private Sector: Yeon-Joo Jung, CEO, Samsung C&T 54 Public Sector: Housing Project Office at the Korea Land & Housing (LH) Corporation 55 Methodology 56 Glossary 57 Resources 3

6 Executive Summary Overview The Business Value of BIM in South Korea South Korea is Successfully Adopting BIM but Trails North America and Western Europe in Key Metrics The adoption of BIM is fairly new to South Korea, and the industry there is experiencing the growing pains associated with any major new technology, especially one that impacts so many aspects of workflow. BIM has generated a stable and loyal user base in Western Europe, which displays high skill levels, although these users are still in the minority in terms of the overall industry. However, its popularity has truly exploded in North America over the last 10 years, driven firstly by architects wishing to improve their presentations and documents, and more recently, by contractors who are enamored of the tangible benefits that they can achieve through better coordination, more prefabrication, and greater integration of all design and construction processes. This SmartMarket Report sets forth extensive and detailed data findings comparing similar surveys recently conducted in South Korea, North America, and Western Europe. The picture it provides of the more mature BIM regions may be a roadmap for the evolution of Korean BIM users. Furthermore, the findings highlight unique aspects of the Korean construction industry that are already impacting BIM adoption there. Regardless of the contrasts or symmetries between these regions, the underlying message is consistent and clear: BIM is highly valuable, and it is anticipated that it will be an increasingly prevalent factor in global project delivery in the future. Level of BIM Usage and Skill in South Korea While the 2012 level of BIM adoption in South Korea is higher than Western Europe in 2010 and North America in 2009, it is much lower than North America in 2012*. Other metrics such as the percentage of companies with BIM experience, the extent of their implementation of BIM and the relative skill level of BIM users indicate that South Korea, while making important strides is still significantly behind both North America (2012) and Western Europe (2010). The following data summarize tri-regional comparisons of adoption, experience, implementation and proficiency, each of which is examined in greater depth elsewhere in this report. LEVEL OF BIM ADOPTION Even though BIM is relatively new to South Korea, six out of ten industry practitioners are currently using it to some degree. This far exceeds Western Europe (2010), where only 36% of industry practitioners reported using it. However in North America, adoption climbed from 49% of the industry in 2009 to almost three-quarters (71%) in YEARS USING BIM Of South Korean BIM users, have five or more years of BIM experience. In North America, the percentage of these highly experienced users doubled from 18% in 2009 to 36% in 2012, surpassing Western Europe s 34% in DEPTH OF BIM IMPLEMENTATION BY USERS Only 13% of South Koreans report being Very Heavy users, i.e. doing more than 60% of their projects with BIM. The 27% of North American users at that depth of implementation in 2009 has expanded to 39% in 2012, which is still lower than Western Europe s 44% in LEVEL OF BIM PROFICIENCY The percentage of expert or advanced BIM users in North America in 2012 (54%) is almost twice that of South Korea (28%). Western Europe (2010) boasts 45% in these categories. In all three regions, skill level shows a direct relationship to users reported experience of positive ROI (i.e., better than breakeven) from BIM. * All comparisons in this report are based on 2009, 2010, and 2012 McGraw-Hill research. 4

7 Executive Summary The Business Value of BIM in South Korea BIM Adoption South Korea vs. North America and Western Europe % 49% 71% 58% 36% North America South Korea Western Europe Percentages of Users Who Formally Measuring the ROI on BIM 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 33% S. Korea (2012) 46% N. America (2009) 56% N. America (2012) 66% W. Europe (2010) BIM Benefits, Beneficiaries, ROI and Investments BIM provides a wide variety of benefits, but they are valued differently depending on project role. Interestingly, there are also divergent views on which role gets the most value from BIM. And the perception of an overall ROI by a company on their investment in BIM, although challenging to quantify, is a critical factor in deciding to expand their depth of implementation and investment. The data below provide highlights of more detailed evaluations of these issues in the body of this report. The top three overall BIM benefits, Presentation and visualization of architectural design, Spatial coordination, and Improved collective understanding of design intent, are the same across all three regions, but their order of priority is different. In South Korea, clients were perceived as the primary beneficiaries of BIM, yet engineers were the largest group who saw themselves as having a positive ROI on BIM although engineers had the lowest BIM adoption level. In North America, architects were perceived as the main beneficiaries of BIM in 2009, but contractors were the largest group who saw a positive ROI on BIM both in 2009 and In Western Europe (2010), architects were perceived as the top beneficiaries of BIM and were also the largest group who saw a positive ROI on BIM. This contrasts with Korean architects who do not see themselves as primary beneficiaries of BIM although all other groups do view them as a top beneficiary. This may be related to the survey finding that Low design fee (90%) and the practice of Overly frequent design changes (88%) were cited as the top obstacles to BIM implementation in South Korea, which consequently impacts architects perception about the level of benefits that they were getting from BIM. Across all regions, the majority of BIM users perceive their ROI on BIM to be somewhere in the range of breakeven to 25%. Comparing perceived ROIs between the regions, 74% of Western European users (2010) reported a positive ROI, versus only 59% of South Koreans. In North America, 62% reported positive ROI in 2012, almost the same as 2009 (63%). By all three regions, Developing internal collaborative BIM procedures was perceived as a top priority investment area. Interestingly, the percentage of Korean users who perceived investment areas as urgent or very urgent was almost twice those of North American users in 2012 and Western European users in This may be because Korea is in the early stage of BIM adoption North American data unavailable 5

8 Executive Summary Perceived ROI South Korea vs. Western Europe vs. North America The Business Value of BIM in South Korea 30% 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 18% 17% 16% 15% 10% 10% Postive ROI 25% 22% 22% 21% 18% 16% 14% 14% 18% 12% 11% 8% 11% 9% 9% 8% S. Korea (2012) W. Europe (2010) N. America (2009) N. America (2012) 7% 7% 5% 5% 1% 0% Negative Breakeven <10% 10%-25% 25%-50% 50%-100% Over 100% Common Trends across all Regions Survey results from the three regions - South Korea (2012), North America (2009 and 2012), and Western Europe (2010) - highlight several universally common BIM trends. BIM ADOPTION The higher the skill level of the BIM users, the deeper their depth of BIM implementation, and the more value they perceive from their use of BIM. Larger companies tend to have a higher level of BIM adoption. In South Korea, as the size of a company decreases, so the level of BIM adoption decreases. Users with a greater number of years of BIM experience perceive the ROI on BIM to be higher than users with fewer years of BIM experience. BIM BENEFITS Marketing new business to new clients, Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents, and Offering new services are commonly perceived as the major BIM benefits by all users. Improved collective understanding of design intent was universally perceived as one of the major benefits of BIM that contributes most to a project s success. The majority of all BIM users perceived design development and technical design, (i.e., design development and construction documentation), as the project phases in which the most benefit was gained from BIM. 6

9 Executive Summary The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Differences between Regions Regional differences surfaced in the comparison of the survey results and are examined in greater detail throughout this report. Practitioners currently not using BIM in South Korea identify Unavailability of sufficient training (59%) as a primary obstacle to BIM adoption, but do not feel the same way about Perceived lack of demand, which was seen as a major obstacle to BIM adoption in North America (2009 and 2012) and Western Europe (2010). In South Korea where BIM is still new and gaining traction, a large percentage (47%) of non-users express the belief that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years time. This is far more than in Western Europe (2010) (24%) and even higher than the 2009 North American survey (42%). This may be attributed to a strong drive for BIM by the Korean government and is a good indicator of continued BIM adoption in Korea. Only one third of South Korean users formally measure the ROI of BIM. This is very low compared to North America (46% in 2009 and 56% in 2012), and Western Europe (66% in 2010). The production of More accurate construction documents was cited as the top reason that would convince non-users in South Korea and North America (2009) to adopt BIM. However, Improved communication was identified as the chief adoption driver in Western Europe (2010). In North America (2012), the focus of non-users shifted to marketing benefits, with Ability to win new business or maintain repeat business as the top enticement to adopt. Being earlier in the adoption curve, South Korean users perceive the challenges to improving BIM s business value as more critical than North American (2009 and 2012) or Western European (2010) users. South Korean users perceive business and industry elements such as contractual issues and the lack of sufficient project participants with BIM capabilities as the most critical challenges to improving their current ROI on BIM. North American (2009) and Western European (2010) users focused more on softwarerelated challenges such as interoperability and limits to BIM functionality. Conclusions Extensive and detailed comparisons of the surveys conducted in South Korea, Western Europe, and North America showed that the level of BIM adoption in South Korea was high (58%), but many urgent things require attention in order to improve the depth of BIM implementation. Among those, the development of internal and external collaborative BIM procedures, training of internal staff, and having access to a greater number of subcontractors with BIM capabilities are identified as the top priority items. Many Koreans report a positive ROI on BIM. However, the percentage of Korean users who formally measure their ROI is very low (33%) compared to other regions. It will become increasingly important to formally measure BIM s ROI so that it can be used as a basis for analyzing the status of BIM implementation and continuously improving BIM capabilities. On the other hand, many indicators about the future of BIM in South Korea are very positive, and the continuous development and growth of BIM usage in Korea are expected. 7

10 Data: Adoption Overview The majority of South Korean industry participants (58%) use BIM, and most others (39%) know about BIM although they do not use it yet. Only 3% have still not heard about BIM. The level of BIM adoption (58%) in South Korea in 2012 is higher than that of North America in 2009 (49%) and Western Europe in 2010 (36%) but lower than that found in North America in 2012 (71%). This survey result confirms the general perception that BIM is more widely accepted in North America than in South Korea although South Korea s adoption level in 2012 is much higher than that of the other regions two or three years ago. According to the survey results, South Korean users are very optimistic about the future of BIM and are more open to potential BIM adoption compared to North America and Western Europe. Various differences were observed between South Korea and the two other regions in terms of adoption obstacles and drivers and user properties. Key Findings Nearly six in ten industry participants in South Korea currently use BIM. 39% know about BIM but do not use it yet, with only 3% saying they have not heard about BIM. Architects have the highest level of BIM adoption (74%) in South Korea, followed by contractors (65%) and engineers (38%). Although architects have high adoption, most consider themselves only moderate (35%) or beginner (32%) level BIM users, whereas most of the engineers in South Korea who use BIM consider themselves to be BIM experts (43%). A quarter of current South Korean BIM users (25%) have more than five years of experience using it. The non-users identify Unavailability of sufficient training (59%), Software too expensive (57%), and Insufficient BIM-compatible content/libraries available for my needs (56%) as the three top obstacles to their decision to adopt BIM, followed by Lack of demands by clients (55%) and Software too difficult to use (51%). The majority of non-users (87%) are either actively evaluating BIM or believe that BIM will be valuable even if they have not begun evaluating it. And nearly half of non-bim users (47%) perceive that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years. Only 13% of BIM users in South Korea use it on more than 60% of their projects (classified as Very Heavy users). The majority (60%) use BIM on less than 15% of their projects (Light users). The more skilled the BIM users, the deeper the depth of their BIM implementation: i.e., the higher the percentage of BIM projects of their projects. Percentage of BIM Users Not aware of BIM 3% Larger Korean companies tend to have higher levels of BIM adoption. As the size of company decreases, the level of BIM adoption decreases from 78% to 36%. South Korean BIM users perceive Low design fee (90%) and Overly frequent design changes (88%) as the top obstacles to increasing the amount of their projects on which they use BIM (i.e., BIM implementation). Non-users in South Korea slightly underestimate design firms current adoption level and slightly overestimate contractors adoption level. BIM users 58% Non-BIM users 39% 8

11 Adoption Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe The current level of BIM adoption (58%) in South Korea is higher than that of North America in 2009 (49%) and Western Europe in 2010 (36%), but lower than that of North America in 2012 (71%). Architects have the highest level of BIM adoption in all three regions. Despite the high level of BIM adoption in South Korea, the skill level of BIM users (i.e., BIM proficiency) is low for all groups except for engineers compared to the rates for Western Europe and North America. The percentage of users with more than five years of experience in Korea (25%) is higher than that of North America in 2009 (18%) but lower than that of North America in 2012 (36%) and of Western Europe in 2010 (34%). South Korea has a higher rate of non-bim users that have previous experience in BIM but have rejected it (10%) than Western Europe (4%) and North America (2%). In Western Europe in 2010, 44% of users were classified as Very Heavy users, deploying BIM on more than 60% of their projects, whereas only 13% in South Korea (2012) and 27% and 39% in North American (2009 and 2012, respectively) were at that implementation level. As in the Western Europe and North America surveys, the depth of BIM application in the South Korea survey highly correlates to the level of BIM proficiency. Korean non-users do not view Perceived lack of demand (for BIM), which was perceived as a prime obstacle in North America and Western Europe, as a major deterrent to their BIM adoption. South Korean non-users identify Unavailability of sufficient training (59%) as their most important objection. Almost half (47%) of South Korean non-users believe that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years. This is slightly higher than the 2009 North America research (42%), and far higher than the 2010 Western Europe research (24%). This optimistic view of the future of BIM may be attributed to the strong drive toward BIM by the Korean government and to the fast IT adoption trend in Korea. The non-users identify Unavailability of sufficient training (59%), Software too expensive (57%), and Insufficient BIM-compatible content/libraries available for my needs (56%) as the three top obstacles to their decision to adopt BIM, followed by Lack of demands by clients (55%) and Software too difficult to use (51%). The majority of non-users (87%) are either actively evaluating BIM or believe that BIM will be valuable even if they have not begun evaluating it. And nearly half of non-bim users (47%) perceive that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years. BIM User Profiles 50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 25% 34% 36% 44% 27% 39% Production of More accurate construction documents is recognized as the top benefit that, if demonstrated, would drive adoption for non-users in South Korea (76%) and in North America in 2009 (71%). Improved communication was identified as the top adoption driver in Western Europe (57%). In 2012, North American non-bim users identified Ability to win new business or maintain repeat business (70%) as the top adoption driver. 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 18% 13% 5+ year experience Very Heavy Users S. Korea (2012) W. Europe (2010) N. America (2009) N. America (2012) 9

12 Adoption Introduction The history of BIM can be tracked back to the early 1970s. However, it was not until early 2000 that it received attention from practitioners as a new technology and practice that could create significant change in the construction industry. Since then, BIM has been adopted in many countries at a rapid pace. This section analyzes the status of BIM adoption and implementation in South Korea compared to North America and Western Europe. The level and depth of BIM adoption are analyzed by user type, years of using BIM, and level of BIM proficiency. Non- BIM users were asked about the obstacles to BIM adoption while BIM users were asked about the obstacles to greater BIM implementation. The results are compared with the 2009 and 2012 North America and 2010 Western Europe survey results. User Differences Architects have the highest level of BIM adoption in South Korea and Western Europe. The BIM adoption level of architects in South Korea is 74%. The BIM adoption level of architects in Western Europe was 46% in 2010, 58% and 70% in North America in 2009 and 2012, respectively. The level of BIM adoption by contractors in South Korea (65%) far exceeds that of Western Europe in 2010 (23%) and North America in 2009 (49% ), but lower than that of North America in 2012 (74%). However, when only subcontractors are considered, the Korean adoption rate drops to only 20%. Nearly four in ten engineers (38%) in South Korea are using BIM, on par with the adoption by engineers in Western Europe in 2010 (37%). North American engineers lead their global peers with adoption rates of 42% and 73% in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Only 26% of owners use BIM in South Korea, somewhat behind the 37% of North American owners that reported adoption in BIM Adoption by User Type Architect Engineer Contractor CA/CM Owner Total We are using BIM 74% 38% 65% 35% 26% 58% We know BIM, but are not using it 26% 58% 28% 65% 68% 39% We do not know BIM 0% 4% 6% 0% 5% 3% BIM Proficiency Despite the high level of BIM adoption in South Korea, the level of BIM proficiency is low for all groups except for engineers compared to the rates for Western Europe and North America. In South Korea, 43% of BIM-using engineers consider themselves BIM experts. This is very high; only 37% of BIM engineers in North America in 2009 and 14% in 2012 considered themselves advanced or expert BIM users. Although architects have the highest level of BIM adoption, most BIM-using architects in South Korea consider themselves to have only moderate (35%) or beginner (32%) level BIM skills. Only 33% of the architects consider themselves expert or advanced BIM users in South Korea whereas 48% of BIM 10

13 Adoption architects considered themselves advanced or expert users in Western Europe in 2010 and 43% in North America in 2009 and 60% in BIM Proficiency by User Type Years Using BIM Expert Advanced Moderate Beginner Architect 20% 13% 35% 32% CA/CM 5% 11% 32% 53% Contractor 6% 15% 50% 29% Engineer 43% 0% 57% 0% Nearly a quarter of BIM users (24%) started using BIM more than five years ago. This means that a large group of BIM users in South Korea started using BIM even before it was publicized by the first BIM conference in South Korea in The percentage of users with more than five years of experience in Korea (24%) is higher than that of North America in 2009 (18%) and lower than that of Western Europe in 2010 (34%) and North America in 2012 (36%). The percentage of new BIM users with less than one year of experience is low (11%) compared to that in North America in 2009 (22%) and that in Western Europe in 2010 (18%), but is slightly higher than that in North America in 2012 (8%). Years Using BIM 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 25% 11% 12% 19% 23% 11% S. Korea (2012) 34% 10% 10% 14% 14% 18% W. Europe (2010) 18% 6% 10% 18% 26% 22% N. America (2009) 36% 13% 11% 18% 13% 9% N. America (2012) 5+ year 5 year 4 year 3 year 2 year 1 year BIM Attitudes of the Non-BIM User Group As in Western Europe and North America, non-bim users in South Korea are also very open to potential BIM adoption: 87% of non-bim users are actively evaluating BIM or believe that BIM will be valuable even if they have not begun evaluating it. Ten percent of non-bim users are previous BIM users, who experienced BIM but then decided not to use it any more, whereas only 4% of non-bim users in Western Europe (2010) and 2% in North America (2009) were previous BIM users*. This reluctance is likely due to a combination of reasons, including BIM tools and libraries which are not yet sufficiently regionalized to support South Korean users, and the need for technical workaround methods to handle large BIM files. Also, many consider the initial investment and maintenance costs to be too high (as discussed further in the Obstacles to BIM Adoption section of this report) to justify the demand for BIM services, which is still developing in the market. Encouragingly though, only 3% of Korean non-users express no interest in adopting BIM, compared to 27% of non- BIM users in Western Europe (2010) and 11% in North America (2009). * 2012 North American data unavailable 11

14 Adoption Depth of Implementation Level of Adoption vs. Implementation In this study, any company that reported using BIM on any of its current projects is considered to have adopted BIM, and to be a BIM user. But the depth of implementation, meaning the percentage of a company s projects on which it actually uses BIM, varies greatly across these adopters. This depth of implementation is also referred to as the depth of involvement, depth of BIM adoption and the level of BIM integration in this study. Although the level of BIM adoption in South Korea is higher than that of Western Europe in 2010 and North America in 2009, the depth of BIM adoption is much shallower than in those regions. Only 13% of BIM users in South Korea use BIM on more than 60% of their projects (classified for this study as a Very Heavy implementation level). The majority of BIM users in Korea (60%) use BIM in less than 15% of their projects (classified for this study as a Light implementation level). The level of BIM implementation in North America has risen steadily since 2009, at which time 27% of users reported a Very Heavy level of implementation. This increased to 39% in Conversely, in 2009, 34% were Light users, a figure that has decreased to 24% in Western European BIM users show the greatest depth of BIM implementation. In 2010, 44% reported being Very Heavy users, with only 25% being Light users. However, current BIM users in South Korea overall are planning to more than double their use of BIM on their projects over the next two years, with 30% of them planning to be at a Very Heavy usage level by that time. Depth of Implementation by BIM Expertise Currently, 33% of experts and 48% of advanced users in South Korea are Very Heavy users, while 76% of beginners and 67% of moderate users are just at a Light level of implementation. In two years, 44% of experts and 74% of advanced users plan to be operating at a Very High level of implementation. Current and Future BIM Implementation Depth in South Korea 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 60% 12% Less than 15% (Light) 20% 34% 15-30% (Moderate) 7% 23% 30-60% (Heavy) 14% 30% More than 60% (Very Heavy) Current 2 Years Looking ahead two years, lesser-skilled users (moderate and beginner levels) in South Korea plan to expand their use of BIM more aggressively than their North American counterparts predicted in 2009, who just expected steady progress. Currently, 67% of moderately skilled users and 76% of beginners are at a Light level of implementation. But only 12% and 20%, respectively, expect to still be at that Light level in two years. As in the Western Europe and North America surveys, the depth of BIM implementation in the South Korea survey highly correlates to the level of BIM expertise. The more skilled the BIM users, the greater the depth of their BIM implementation North American data unavailable 12

15 Adoption BIM Adoption by Company Size In South Korea, a company that has more than 1,000 employees is legally considered a large company. BIM has a higher level of adoption among these large companies. As company size decreases, the degree of BIM adoption decreases from 78% to 38%. The depth of BIM implementation, however, shows an opposite tendency. Small companies tend to use BIM on a higher percentage of their projects: 60% of users who work at a small company with fewer than ten employees are Very Heavy users, while 69% of BIM-using companies with more than 300 employees are just Moderate users. This is likely due to the speed at which small companies can adopt change and implement new technologies. Level of BIM Adoption by Company Size More than 1000 employees 78% 21% 1% employees 53% 42% 4% We are using BIM employees 45% 51% 4% We know BIM, but do not use BIM Not aware of BIM Less than 10 employees 36% 61% 4% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Depth of BIM Adoption by Company Size More than 1000 employees 22% 69% 1% 7% employees 13% 69% 8% 10% Less than 15% (Light) 15-30% (Moderate) employees 23% 42% 19% 16% 30-60% (Heavy) More than 60% (Very Heavy) Less than 10 employees 20% 20% 0% 60% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 13

16 Adoption Non-users Perception of BIM Activity in Their Markets vs. Actual Most companies that are not currently using BIM are aware of BIM activity in their market, and they perceive that many of their clients and competitors have adopted it. To determine if there is a gap between non-users perception of BIM usage in South Korea and the actual numbers, they were asked to estimate the perceived percentage of BIM projects underway by their (current/potential) clients, competitors, and the industry in general. Non-users perception of BIM adoption by design firms and contractors in South Korea (71% and 74%, respectively) almost concur with the actual level of BIM adoption by those groups (74% and 65%, respectively) They slightly underestimate design firms current adoption level and slightly overestimate contractors level. Non-users perceived levels of BIM adoption by their (current/potential) clients (84%), their competitors (79%), and their industry (89%) all came out much higher than the overall level of BIM adoption in South Korea (58%) surveyed in this study. This perception of competitive pressure is likely to drive more adoption among current non-users. Non-users underestimate the level of BIM implementation by their clients, competitors, and the industry as a whole. The majority of non-users (70% on average) perceive their clients, competitors, and industry to be Light users, and only 2% perceive them as Very Heavy users. The actual percentage of Light users is 60% while that of Very Heavy users is 14%. This misreading of the industry trend might be the reason that non-users are slow to evaluate or adopt BIM. Actual Level of BIM Adoption by Architects and Contractors vs. the Level of BIM Adoption Perceived by Non-BIM Users 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 71% 74% 74% 65% Perceived Actual 0% Architect Contractor Overall Levels of BIM Adoption Perceived by Non-BIM Users Levels of BIM Implementation by Potential Clients and Competitors Perceived by Non-BIM Users Contractor 26% 74% Average 70% 23% 4% 2% Design firm My industry Client 0% 29% 11% 16% 89% 84% 71% Not Using BIM Using BIM Same industry Contractor Design firm 77% 72% 78% 21% 2% 19% 1%1% 22% 6% Less than 15% (Light) 15-30% (Moderate) 30-60% (Heavy) More than 60% (Very Heavy) Competitor 21% 79% Client 51% 36% 6% 6% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Competitor 74% 19% 5% 1% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 14

17 Adoption Obstacles to BIM Adoption and BIM Implementation The obstacles to BIM adoption were analyzed using a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 no influence on adoption and 5 the greatest influence on adoption. Instead of using the average score, the most influential factors were analyzed by calculating the percentage of respondents who evaluated the importance of a factor as 5 or 4. Similarly, the least influential factors were analyzed by calculating the percentage of respondents who evaluated the importance of a factor as 2 or 1. Obstacles to BIM Adoption for Non-BIM Users Non-BIM users were asked about the major obstacles that are keeping them from adopting BIM. Client demand and competition often provide the strongest motivation for new technology adoption: 67% of North American non-bim users in 2009 and 78% in 2012, and 55% in Western Europe (2010) indicated Lack of demand by clients as the prime obstacle to BIM adoption. However, Korean non-bim users do not view Perceived lack of demand as a prime obstacle to BIM adoption. Instead, South Korean non-bim users identify Unavailability of sufficient training (59%), Software too expensive (57%), and Insufficient BIM-compatible content/libraries available for my needs (56%) as the three top obstacles to BIM adoption, followed by Lack of demands by clients (55%) and Software too difficult to use (51%). In 2009 by North American users and in 2010 by Western European users, Insufficient time to evaluate BIM and Software too expensive were viewed as the second and third greatest obstacles. In the 2012 North America survey, they are replaced by cost related factors, such as Software and hardware upgrades being too expensive. This means that the initial investment and maintenance costs are serious obstacles to non-bim users in North America, and that without high-end computers, it is still difficult to work effectively on a BIM project. Insufficient time to evaluate BIM, the second most influential factor in the North America and the Western Europe surveys, ranked sixth out of eleven factors in South Korea. The least influential obstacles identified by Korean non-bim users are Concerns about insurance/liability (48%) and The current methods we use are better (46%). Although a higher percentage of the non-bim users in North America in 2009 identified Concerns about insurance/liability (64%) and The current methods we use are better (62%) as obstacles, they ranked them below many other concerns, therefore also making them among the least influential challenges, followed in those regions by Poor interoperability with CAD applications (54%), Software too difficult to use (51%), and Insufficient training available (50%), which is a slightly more pressing problem for Koreans (59%). In 2012, non-bim users in North America continue to view similar factors, such as Software too difficult to use, Concerns about insurance/liability, and Poor interoperability with CAD applications, as the least important obstacles. Percentage of Users Who Perceive Obstacles as Having Very High and High Influence Insufficient training available Software too expensive Insufficient BIM-compatible content available for my needs Software too difficult to use 26% 24% 35% 40% 49% 48% 55% 51% 57% 56% Not enough demand from clients and/or other firms on projects 59% Haven t had sufficient time to evaluate it Required hardware upgrades too expensive Functionality doesn t apply well enough to what we do Poor interoperability with CAD applications Concerns about insurance/liability We believe the current methods we use are better 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 15

18 Adoption Obstacles to Faster BIM Implementation by BIM Users South Korean BIM users were asked about the factors that discourage greater implementation. This was a new set of questions that has not been included in previous SmartMarket Report surveys. Low design fee (90%) and Overly frequent design changes (88%) are perceived as the top two obstacles to BIM implementation in South Korea (as identified in other parts of this survey, case studies, and interviews). Related to this, BIM users in South Korea perceive Insufficient incentive for BIM-based design (86%) as the fourth-most influential obstacle. As the volume of detail added to a large BIM model increases, it can become more difficult to incorporate last-minute changes to a design because of certain technology limitations. South Korean design teams are frequently required to change a design without proper incremental compensation, even when there is a challenging deadline. This consequently discourages further BIM implementation. Lack of subcontractors with BIM capabilities (87%) is identified as the third most influential obstacle. Large general contractors in South Korea have recently started training subcontractors in order to overcome this problem. (See the BIM Leader Interview section for example.) Overheated competition due to the frozen construction market (82%), Ignorance of or resistance to a new technology in fields (83%), and Insufficient support from the headquarters (82%) are also perceived as factors with high or very high impact on slowing BIM implementation in Korea. Highly or Very Highly Influential Obstacles to Faster BIM Implementation in Korea Compared to Other Countries 0% Low design fee Overly frequent design changes Overheated competition due to the frozen construction market Excessive demands by clients 62% 54% 78% 77% 76% 76% 76% 74% 83% Insufficient BIM-compatible content available for my needs 82% Late decisions after hard deadlines 82% Ignorance of or resistance to a new technology in field Low budget and short project duration due to the acquisition of bad projects Lack of employees with BIM capabilities Low-quality construction documents Market led by Contractors 88% Lack of subcontractors with BIM capabilities 86% 90% 87% Insufficient incentive for BIM-based design Difficulties in communication due to a restricted hierarchical social structure Insufficient support from the headquarters 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% All the obstacles listed in the chart are identified as high or very high impact factors. Less than 10% of BIM users perceive that these obstacles have low or no impact on BIM adoption. Potential Adoption Drivers High or Very High Influential Adoption Drivers Non-users said production of More accurate construction documents is the top BIM benefit that would encourage them to adopt in South Korea in 2012 (76%) and in North America in 2009 (71%). In 2012, North American non-bim users identified Ability to win new business or maintain repeat business (70%) as the top adoption driver. Improved communication was identified as the top adoption driver in Western Europe (57%), the second driver in North America in 2009 (70%), and the fourth driver in South Korea (66%). More accurate construction documents ranked third (54%) in Western Europe. Improved communication (65%), which topped the Western Europe adoption-driver list, and More accurate construction documents (64%), which topped the South Korean list, are perceived as the second and third most important adoption drivers by non-users in North America in

19 Adoption Improved budgeting and cost estimating capabilities (67%), Owner s demand (67%), and Improved communication (66%) are identified as the second, third, and fourth most important adoption drivers, respectively in South Korea. Interestingly, Modification of design parameters (65%) and Improved ability to do sustainable design and construction (64%), which were not even among the top drivers for respondents in North America in 2009 and 2012 or in Western Europe in 2010, are identified as the fifth and sixth top adoption drivers in South Korea. In Western Europe, modification of design parameters was selected as the least influential factor. The percentage of non-bim users who perceive the adoption drivers that we provided as having little or no influence is very low. Except for Reducing litigation, insurance claims (37%), less than 30% of non-users perceive the other adoption drivers as having little or no influence. This means that non-users perceive all the listed adoption drivers as highly or very highly influential in their decision to adopt BIM. Top 10 Adoption Drivers with High or Very High Impact More accurate construction documents 51% 59% 59% 65% 64% 62% 76% Improved budgeting and cost estimating capabilities Modification of design parameters 67% Owners demanding it on their projects 67% Improved communication between all parties in the design and construction process 66% Improved ability to do sustainable design and construction Improved operations, maintenance and facility management Reduced number of field coordination problems Improved scheduling capabilities Reduced construction costs 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Future Outlook Nearly half of non-bim users (47%) perceive that BIM will be highly or very highly important to the industry in five years time. This value (47%) is far higher than that found in the 2010 Western Europe survey (24%) and slightly higher than that established by the 2009 North America research results (42%). This optimistic view of the future of BIM may be attributed to the strong drive toward BIM by the Korean government and to the generally fast IT adoption trend in Korea in spite of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry being among the slowest industries to adopt information technology. Conclusions South Korea is adopting BIM at a very rapid pace. Already six in ten industry participants are using it, and this number will continue to climb because so many non-bim users are considering adopting BIM in the near future. Non-BIM users in South Korea perceive the future of BIM more positively than any other regions of the world. However, the percentages of heavy and skilled BIM users are low in South Korea compared to those of North America and Western Europe. In South Korea, lack of sufficient training, low design fees, and the practice of overly frequent design changes are considered as major obstacles that the industry needs to address in order to foster innovation and global competitiveness North American data unavailable 17

20 Data: Overall Value of BIM Overview Most Korean users believe that they are benefiting from BIM usage. Among them, skilled and long-term users tend to perceive more value in BIM than novice users. However, the percentage of Korean users who formally measure the ROI on BIM is much lower than that of Western European (2010) and North American (2009 and 2012) users. Users from all three regions believe that it is most critical to develop internal collaborative BIM procedures in order to improve the ROI on BIM. Key Findings Around six in ten (59%) BIM users in Korea believe that they are currently deriving benefit from their investments in BIM. Korean users with higher levels of expertise generally see more value in BIM than users with lesser expertise, which correlates with the results of surveys in North America (2009 and 2012) and Western Europe (2010). The majority of expert (61%) and advanced users (60%) believe that their ROI on BIM is above 10%. However, only 27% of moderately-skilled and 20% of beginner-level users believe that they are achieving that level of ROI. procedures (83%), Development of external collaborative BIM procedures (83%), and BIM training (83%). Over nine in ten Korean users (92%) believe that they are benefiting from BIM usage but more benefits need to be achieved. This means that even the 41% of users who perceive the ROI on BIM as negative or breakeven believe that they are getting some benefits from BIM and, although they are still getting less than or equal to their investment in BIM, they expect to gain more from BIM in the future. Users with a greater number of years of BIM experience perceive the ROI on BIM to be higher than users with fewer years of BIM experience. While only 29% of firstyear users perceive a positive ROI on BIM, about half of second-year users (52%), 60% of third-year users, 67% of fourth-year users, and nearly eight in ten fifth-year users (79%) perceive a positive ROI on BIM. Among Korean users who formally measure the ROI on BIM, over half of them (56%) measure ROI on less than 25% of their projects. At this point only 7% are measuring ROI on over 75% of projects. The top three priority investment areas are Development of internal collaborative BIM Perceived ROI by Level of Expertise Beginner Moderate Advanced Expert Negative 30% 13% 13% 13% Breakeven 20% 27% 27% 13% <10% 30% 33% 0% 13% 10-25% 14% 19% 27% 17% 25-50% 2% 4% 20% 22% % 5% 2% 13% 17% Over 100% 0% 2% 0% 4% Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe A higher percentage of Western European users in 2010 (74%) perceived a positive ROI on BIM than Korean users in 2012 (59%) and North American users in 2009 and 2012 (63% and 62%, respectively). The distribution of the levels of perceived ROI on BIM of South Korean users in 2012 and that of North American users in both 2009 and 2012 are similar. The majority of BIM users in all three regions perceive their ROI on BIM to be somewhere between breakeven and 25%. 18

21 Overall Value of BIM Only three in ten users in South Korea (33%) formally measure the ROI on BIM. This is very low compared to the percentage of users who reported that they formally measure BIM s ROI in 2010 in Western Europe (66%), in 2009 in North America (46%) and in 2012 in North America (56%). Development of internal collaborative BIM procedures was commonly perceived as the top priority investment area by South Korean (2012), North American (2009 and 2012) and Western European (2010) users. Other than this, BIM software was commonly perceived as a priority critical investment area by North American (2009 and 2012) and Western European (2010) users whereas Development of external collaborative BIM procedures (83%), and BIM training (83%) are perceived as critical investment areas by South Korean users, reflecting the more recent emergence of BIM in that region. Percentages of Users Who Perceived a Positive ROI 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 59% S. Korea (2012) 62% 63% N. America (2009) N. America (2012) 74% W. Europe (2010) Introduction A value proposition can be evaluated using various metrics. This study uses perceived ROI, which is the perceived benefit received for the overall investment in BIM. Although this is not a formally measured value, according to the Technology Acceptance Model theory, users accept a new technology based on perceived usefulness and perceived ease-of-use, and therefore perceived value may be a stronger driver than an actual quantified value. The perceived ROI on BIM of South Korean users was analyzed against that of North American and Western European users. Overall Perceived ROI Of Korean BIM users, 59% believe that they are benefitting from BIM. More Western European BIM users (74%) in 2010 perceived a positive ROI on BIM than South Korean users (59%) in 2012 and North American users (63% and 62%) in 2009 and The majority of BIM users in all three regions believe that the perceived ROI on BIM is somewhere between breakeven and 25%. Twenty-two percent of Korean BIM users believe that they are getting no return on investment by using BIM, and 19% believe that they are losing money by adopting BIM. These numbers are similar to those of North America in 2012 (20% and 18%, respectively) and higher than those of Western Europe in 2010 (16% and 10%, respectively). Perceived ROI - South Korea vs. North America vs. Western Europe 100% 1% 7% 9% 8% 5% 8% 7% 9% 80% 11% 11% 12% Over 100% 18% 18% 21% 22% 60% % 25-50% 25% 10-25% 22% 16% 14% 40% <10% 22% 14% Breakeven 20% 20% Negative 20% 16% 19% 10% 17% 18% 0% S. Korea (2012) W. Europe (2010) N. America (2009) N. America (2012) 19

22 Overall Value of BIM User Differences in Perceived ROI Perceived ROI by Level of Expertise Korean users with higher levels of expertise generally see more value in BIM than users with less expertise, which corresponds with the findings in the North American and Western European survey. Expert and advanced users, 74% and 60% respectively, perceive a positive ROI on BIM, whereas only 50% of beginners perceive a positive ROI. Many more beginners (30%) perceive a negative ROI on BIM than experts or advanced users (13% and 13% respectively). Most expert (61%) and advanced (60%) users perceive that their ROI on BIM is above 10%, whereas only 27% of moderately-skilled and 20% of beginner-level users perceive their ROI on BIM to be in that range. In fact, the majority of moderately-skilled (79%) and beginnerlevel (64%) users perceive that their ROI on BIM is somewhere between breakeven and 25%. This consistent trend might occur because as users gain proficiency, they will increasingly find ways to leverage BIM to their benefit. Perceived ROI by Years of BIM Usage The correlation between perceived ROI and users years of BIM experience is as strong as that between perceived ROI and users skill level. Users with more years of BIM consistently report higher ROI than users with fewer years of BIM experience. While only about three in ten first-year users (29%) perceive a positive ROI on BIM, about half of the second-year users (52%), 60% of third-year users, 67% of fourth-year users, and nearly eight in ten of fifthyear users (79%) perceive a positive ROI on BIM. The percentage of users who perceive a negative ROI on BIM also gradually decreases from 29% to 7% as the number of years of BIM usage increases from 1 to 5 years. Surprisingly, the percentage of users with more than six-year experience who perceive a negative ROI on BIM (20%) is relatively high, although that group also contains the same percentage (20%) who report more than 50% ROI. The sudden leap in the percentage of users who perceive a positive ROI after the first year seems to be related to the required learning curve. During the first year, companies typically invest more on training and setup than they will gain, and they may undergo a lowproductivity trial-and-error process. It would be unusual for first-year users to gain positive returns on their investment in BIM. However, after the learning curve of the early years, users generally increase their level of implementation, with the benefits of becoming more productive and amortizing their initial startup costs across more projects. This contributes to improving their perception of ROI. Perceived ROI by user type is discussed later in the Player Value of BIM section of this report. Perceived ROI by Years of BIM Usage 1 year 2 years 3 years 4 years 5 years Over 6 years Negative 29% 26% 16% 7% 7% 20% Breakeven 43% 23% 24% 27% 14% 14% <10% 7% 32% 28% 27% 36% 17% 10-25% 14% 13% 20% 20% 29% 17% 25-50% 7% 0% 8% 13% 14% 11% % 0% 6% 4% 0% 0% 17% Over 100% 0% 0% 0% 7% 0% 3% 20

23 Overall Value of BIM Formal Measurement of ROI Industries recognize the importance of quantifying benefits. Yet the majority of BIM users do not formally measure the ROI on BIM, and the percentage of projects on which ROI is measured is low because it is very difficult to find appropriate metrics that can be applied to different types of projects with various characteristics. As the North American and Western European BIM surveys suggested, the development of industry-standard metrics can help the architecture, engineering, and construction industries accelerate the formal measurement of BIM s ROI. Level of Measurement Only three in ten users in South Korea (33%) are formally measuring the ROI on BIM. This is very low compared to the percentage of users who reported formally measuring BIM s ROI in Western Europe in 2010 (66%) and North America in 2010 (46%) and in 2012 (56%), respectively. Among Korean users who formally measure the ROI on BIM, over half of them (56%) measure ROI on less than 25% of projects, while 7% measure ROI on over 75% of projects. Of BIM users, who formally measure ROI on BIM, approximately 80% measure ROI on less than half of their projects. Architects are the only user group among Korean BIM users where some companies report formally measuring ROI on BIM on over 75% of their projects. In the 2009 and 2012 North American surveys, architects were found to be the largest group that formally measured ROI, while engineers comprised the smallest group. Future Outlook A number of users who have not previously formally measured ROI are open to starting a formal ROI measurement process. A quarter of users (24%) are planning to start measuring the ROI on BIM within 12 months, while 61% are not sure. Only 15% do not have a plan to measure ROI. Among North American users who formally measured ROI in 2009, 63% of them measured ROI on less than 25% of projects, while 13% measured ROI on over 75% of projects. In 2012, 44% of them measured ROI on less than 25% of projects, while 9% measured ROI on over 75% of projects. Years of Measurement Of South Korea users, 37% have been measuring the ROI on BIM for over two years, 28% for over one year, and 35% for less than a year. Percentage of Projects on Which BIM s ROI Is Measured 50-75% 5% 25-50% 7% % 2% These percentages correlate closely with those of North America in In North America in 2012, 34% of users had been measuring ROI for over two years, 28% for over one year, and 38% for less than a year. By User Type In South Korea, 33% of architects, 31% of CA/CM, and 26% of contractors formally measure ROI on BIM. Less than 25% 18% None 67% 21

24 Overall Value of BIM Where Users Invest Areas of BIM Investment The top three priority investment areas for South Korean BIM users are Development of internal collaborative BIM procedures (83%), Development of external collaborative BIM procedures (83%), and BIM training (83%). Development of Internal and External Collaborative BIM Procedures. Korean users come to appreciate the importance of both internal and external collaborative BIM procedures through several years of BIM experience. Internal processes are important to upgrade technology, train staff and modify processes to support this new way of working, while external collaborative BIM procedures help other project participants become actively and productively involved in the user s BIM projects. Developing internal collaborative BIM procedures was also perceived as the top priority investment area by North American users in 2012 (45%) and West European users in 2010 (44%). BIM Training. Non-BIM users in South Korea regard Insufficient BIM training and Lack of employees and subcontractors with BIM capability as the top obstacles to BIM adoption. Considering this, the choice of BIM Training as a top priority item by BIM users is well-justified. In addition to these top priority items, other items, such as Developing custom 3D libraries (69%), Software customization/interoperability solutions (69%), New/ upgraded hardware (67%), BIM software (63%), and Marketing your BIM capability (50%) are perceived as high priority investment areas for BIM investments. There are several discrepancies in investment plans between Korea, North America, and Western Europe. However, as the North American survey noted, the areas of investment change over time as some initial investments take a backseat to ones that will deepen a user s BIM competency. Moreover, the areas of investment may differ according to the BIM maturity and industry requirements of each region. BIM software. BIM software was commonly perceived as the second highest investment area by North American users in 2012 (42%) and Western European users in 2010 (42%). Although not seen to be as critical as some other investment areas, 63% of Korean users also give BIM software high or very high priority. BIM processes. Development of external collaborative BIM procedures, which is perceived as a top investment area in South Korea, ranked bottom second in Western Europe (32%). Since Western Europe already has a high level of BIM implementation compared to other regions (described further in the Level of BIM Implementation section), there may be less need for investment to develop these intercompany processes. Generally, the priority assigned to investing in BIM in Korea is much higher than in Western Europe. The High and Very High importance priorities in Korea range from 50% to 83% whereas those in Western Europe ranged from 31% to 44%. This can be interpreted as a high sense of urgency among Korean BIM users to expand and improve their implementation. Percentage of Users Who Perceive the Importance of Each Investment Item as High and Very High 0% Developing internal collaborative BIM procedures 50% 63% 69% 69% 67% 83% Developing collaborative BIM processes with external parties BIM training Developing custom 3D libraries New/upgraded hardware BIM software 83% 83% Software customization / interoperability solutions Marketing your BIM capability 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 22

25 Overall Value of BIM Future Value of BIM Users are almost unanimous in their belief that there is enormous value still to be gained from BIM. Over nine in ten Korean users (92%) believe that they are receiving benefits from BIM usage but can achieve more. Only 8% say that they are getting no meaningful value from BIM Only 2% say that they are already getting all the value that is available from BIM. This analysis shows that even the 41% of users who perceive the ROI on BIM to be negative or breakeven believe that they are getting some benefit from BIM. This means that, although they are still getting less than or equal to their financial investment in BIM, they are experiencing benefits and expect to gain more from BIM in the future. These findings concur with those from the North American and Western European surveys in which it was found that 96% of North American users in 2009 and 93% in 2012, and 90% of Western European users in 2010 believed that they were receiving benefit from BIM and would gain more in the future. Only 4% in Western Europeand in North American in 2009 and 7% in North America in 2012 perceived no meaningful benefit from BIM. User Differences in Expected Value of BIM In Korea, the majority of architects (56%), contractors (47%), construction administrators and managers (47%), and others (60%) believe that they are just scratching the surface of how much value BIM can provide us. The majority of engineers (71%) believe that they are getting a lot of value from BIM, but believe there is more to be gained. Although the percentage is low (3% and 2%, respectively), some architects and contractors claim they are getting everything out of BIM. The North American survey reported that the majority of contractors (52% in 2009 and 54% in 2012) were getting a lot from BIM but believed that there was more to be gained. The majority of owners (61% in 2009 and 59% in 2012) believed that they were scratching the surface of BIM s benefits. North American engineers were, in general, the most pessimistic about the value of BIM, with 12% of BIM-using engineers in 2009 and 20% in 2012 saying that they were getting no meaningful value from BIM; however, over 80% of engineers reported that they were getting some benefit from BIM in 2009 and In Western Europe, 55%of architects and 52% of engineers believed that they were getting a lot of benefit from BIM and that there was more to be gained, while 61% of contractors believed that they were scratching the surface of BIM s benefits. Users with high levels of expertise see more opportunities with BIM, which users with lesser skills do not perceive. When the level of business value of BIM is analyzed by the level of BIM expertise, experts (13%) claim that they are getting everything out of BIM that they believe it can provide. The majority of experts (61%) and advanced users (78%) in Korea believe that they are getting a lot of value from BIM but believe there is more to be gained. At the same time, the majority of moderately-skilled (55%) and beginner-level (69%) users believe that they are just scratching the surface of how much value BIM can provide. This finding may indicate that the more users learn about the value of BIM, the more they realize how much more value there can be. Level of Business Value of BIM by Level of Expertise Expert Advanced Moderate Beginner Total We are getting everything out of BIM that we believe it can provide us 13% 0% 0% 0% 2% We are getting a lot of value from BIM but believe there is more to be gained 61% 78% 36% 20% 40% We are just scratching the surface of how much value BIM can provide us 22% 22% 55% 69% 51% We are getting no meaningful value from BIM 4% 0% 9% 10% 8% 23

26 Overall Value of BIM Conclusions Korean users are very positive about the value of BIM. Over nine in ten Korean users believe that they are benefiting from BIM usage. Six in ten Korean users see a positive ROI on BIM. The percentage of Korean users who see a positive ROI is lower than that of Western Europe (2010) but about the same as that of North America (2009 and 2010). All three regions felt that the perceived ROI on BIM was somewhere between breakeven and 25%. To improve the ROI on BIM, the development of internal collaborative BIM procedures was identified as the top priority investment area by South Korean, North American, and Western European users. In addition to this, South Korean users identified the development of external collaborative BIM procedures and BIM training programs as critical investment areas whereas Western European and North American users saw BIM software as the next critical investment area. Nevertheless, the percentage of Korean users who formally measure the ROI on BIM is much lower than that of North American and Western European users although many Korean users are open to starting a formal ROI measurement. For continuous monitoring and improvement of the benefits derived from BIM, it is critical for Korean users to formally measure and track their ROI on BIM. 24

27 Data: Internal Business Value of BIM Overview Each company that adopts BIM will experience challenges and benefits that are unique to its size, its role in projects, and the drivers of business success in its particular market and region. However, the surveys reveal many commonalities in both the benefits and challenges across all organizations. The leading facets are examined in this section. Percentages indicate how many High or Very High responses were recorded. Key Findings Currently, the top five internal business benefits of BIM for South Korean companies are Better communication and understanding from 3D visualization (61%), Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents (48%), Marketing new business to new clients (47%), Offering new services (45%), and Overall better construction project outcomes (38%). The most important ways to improve the current internal business value of BIM would be for it to increase its positive impact on Better multiparty communication and understanding from 3D visualization (70%), Positive impact on marketing (55%), and Improved project process outcomes, such as fewer requests for information (RFIs) and field coordination problems (49%). The top five challenges to achieving business value from BIM are More clearly defined BIM deliverables between parties (83%), More use of contracts to support BIM and collaboration (83%), Improved functionality of BIM software (83%), More external firms with BIM skills (82%), and More internal staff with BIM skills (81%). Expert and advanced users in South Korea see BIM as 1.5 to 2.5 times more beneficial than beginners. Percentage of Users who Perceive Each BIM Benefit as High or Very High by BIM Proficiency Expert Advanced Moderate Beginner Total Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization 91% 80% 59% 41% 61% Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents 77% 60% 47% 32% 49% Marketing new business to new clients 68% 60% 45% 34% 47% Offering new services 86% 60% 39% 27% 46% Overall better construction project outcomes 59% 53% 31% 29% 38% Reducing rework 55% 40% 35% 22% 35% Younger staff s learning of how buildings go together is improved 55% 40% 33% 24% 35% Reducing cycle time of specific workflows 64% 33% 27% 17% 31% Increased prefabrication 41% 33% 24% 22% 27% Fewer RFIs (Requests for Information) and field coordination problems 50% 27% 24% 15% 26% Positive impact on sustainability 45% 27% 22% 20% 26% Improved productivity of personnel 45% 13% 18% 27% 25% Reduced construction cost 45% 20% 18% 15% 22% Maintaining repeat business with past clients 59% 27% 12% 10% 21% Faster approvals 41% 13% 18% 15% 20% Reducing overall project duration 50% 20% 8% 17% 19% Recruiting and retention of staff 36% 13% 12% 20% 19% Fewer claims/litigation 36% 13% 10% 12% 16% Improved site safety 18% 13% 12% 10% 12% Increased profits 27% 13% 6% 7% 11% 25

28 Internal Business Value of BIM Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents is commonly perceived as one of the top three benefits by users in South Korea, North America, and Western Europe. Marketing new business to new clients, Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents, and Offering new services are commonly perceived as the major BIM benefits in different parts of the world. All three items are included in the top five BIM benefits list in South Korea, North America, and Western Europe. Like North American and Western European users, expert and advanced users in South Korea rate the business benefits of BIM higher than beginners. This study shows that the primary benefits of BIM and the top-rated ways to improve business value using BIM are universal, regardless of the region of operation. South Korean users view the challenges in improving BIM s business value as more critical than North American or Western European users. South Korean users perceive that contractual issues, the lack of sufficient project participants with BIM capabilities, and the functionality of BIM software are the most critical challenges to improving BIM s business value. On the other hand, North American and Western European users in 2009 and 2010, respectively, identified BIM challenges as being software-related, i.e., interoperability and software functionality. Introduction Profit, which is the primary goal of any enterprise, is directly impacted by the collective efforts of various aspects of a business to improve productivity and effectiveness. BIM provides numerous benefits to users at various levels, ultimately contributing to profitability. Among these benefits, which do BIM users feel are the most valuable today? Top-Rated Business Benefits In South Korea, the majority of BIM users perceive Better communication and understanding from 3D visualization (61%), Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents (48%), Marketing new business to new clients (47%), Offering new services (45%), and Overall better construction project outcomes (38%) as the top five business benefits of BIM. In all regions and surveys (South Korea in 2012, North America in 2009 and 2012, and Western Europe in 2010) Marketing new business to new clients, Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents, and Offering new services are universally perceived as major BIM benefits. In North America (2012) the top five BIM benefits were Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents (52%), Marketing new business to new clients (51%), Maintaining repeat business with past clients (49%), Reducing rework (48%), and Offering new services (46%). Overall better construction project outcomes, which appeared in the 2009 North American top benefits list, has not made it onto the 2012 list, while Maintaining repeat business with past clients is a new entrant on the list. Marketing new business to new clients, which was the top benefit in the 2009 study, is replaced by Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents in Marketing remains important nevertheless. However, as BIM competence increases, companies seem to learn how to leverage BIM technologies better in order to derive core benefits. These benefits do not work independently of each other 26

29 Internal Business Value of BIM but are rather inextricably linked: construction that uses documents with fewer errors will result in a reduced number of reworks and a highquality outcome. A highquality outcome will secure existing clients and bring more new jobs to a company through the promotion of successful projects in which new BIM services have been used. Percentage of Users Who Identify Items as Highly or Very Highly Beneficial Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents Marketing new business to new clients Offering new services Overall better construction project outcomes Younger staff s learning of how buildings go together is improved Reducing rework 38% 35% 35% In Western Europe (2010), the top five BIM benefits were Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents (61%), Reducing cycle time of specific workflows (52%), Reducing rework (50%), Offering new services (47%), and Marketing new business to new clients (46%). 48% 47% 45% 61% Reducing cycle time of specific workflows Increased prefabrication Positive impact on sustainability Fewer RFIs (Requests for Information) and field coordination problems Improved productivity of personnel Reduced construction cost Maintaining repeat business with past clients Faster approvals Reducing overall project duration Recruiting and retention of staff Fewer claims/litigation Improved site safety Increased profits 31% 27% 25% 25% 25% 22% 21% 20% 19% 18% 15% 12% 11% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Differences in Perceived Benefits by Proficiency Level The perceived importance of each benefit is fairly consistent across all proficiency levels of South Korean users. An interesting exception is that experts rate Reducing cycle time of specific workflows as one of top five benefits of BIM. This probably results from their greater level of experience, which has provided them with the chance to improve their workflow processes sufficiently to see tangible results such as this. Lesser skilled users are still in the process of refining their BIM-related workflows, therefore would not be expected to see this benefit yet. Like North American and Western European users, expert and advanced users in South Korea are experiencing more business benefits from BIM than beginners. In fact, expert and advanced users in South Korea see BIM as 1.5 to 2.5 times more beneficial than beginners. This supports the consistent findings through all the research studies that persistence in improving skills for BIM implementation definitely yields tangible benefits. 27

30 Internal Business Value of BIM Improving Business Value When asked to identify which BIM benefits, if they could be measurably improved, would have the biggest impact on boosting the business value of BIM, South Korean users cited improved communication and marketing, and fewer errors and coordination problems. Percentage of Users Who Identify Items as Highly Top-Rated Ways to Improve Business Value or Very Highly Influential on ROI Improvement South Korean users identify Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization (70%), Positive impact on marketing (55%), and Improved project process outcomes, such as fewer requests for information (RFIs) and field coordination problems (49%) as the most effective ways to improve the level of business value they are currently achieving. Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization. Three-dimensional visualization is BIM s fundamental-level function, and better communication through 3D visualization is perceived as, by far, the most effective way to improve the value proposition of BIM for a user company. The majority of North American and Western European users also identified this as, without doubt, the most effective way of improving business value through the use of BIM. Positive impact on marketing. A new technology, especially when it has clearly proven benefits, can often be leveraged as a good marketing tool and, with its many success stories and highly visual work product, BIM is exactly that. Moreover, it is also a survival kit for companies as the number of BIMmandated projects increases worldwide, and the number of general contractors who will only work with architects and subcontractors who have BIM capabilities increases. Improved project process outcomes, such as fewer Requests for Information (RFIs) and field coordination problems. The ultimate goal of BIM is to build buildings faster, better, cheaper, safer, and greener than they are currently being built. RFIs due to errors and missing information in drawings and construction documents, and miscommunication and field coordination problems are at the root of many construction problems, such as rework, schedule delays, budget overruns, quality compromises and safety issues. Many case studies show that BIM is highly effective in reducing the number of RFIs and field coordination problems because the models produced by the individual disciplines can be 0% Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization Positive impact on marketing Increased prefabrication Faster approvals Reduced cycle time for project activities and delivery Positive impact on recruiting/retaining staff Positive impact on sustainability Improved productivity of personnel Lower project cost Improved site safety 14% 25% 24% 22% 30% 30% 27% 34% 55% 70% Improved project process outcomes, such as fewer RFIs (Requests for Information) and field coordination problems 49% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% coordinated virtually in advance, therefore avoiding problems that traditionally are not discovered until the project is in construction. South Korean users strongly believe that continued advances related to this benefit of BIM will improve its ROI. The top-rated ways to improve business value using BIM in South Korea align with those of the North American (2009 and 2012) and Western European (2010) survey results. This supports the idea that the primary benefits of BIM and the top-rated ways to improve the business value of using BIM are universal, regardless of the region of the world where they are deployed. In the 2009 BIM survey, North American users identified Better multi-party communication and understanding 28

31 Internal Business Value of BIM from 3D visualization (77%) scored as the most effective way to improve business value. But in the 2012 North American survey, Improved productivity of personnel (77%) ranks first, and Reduced cycle time for project activities and delivery (68%), and Lower project cost are in the top 5 most effective ways to improve business value. This change over 3 years highlights the advancing maturity of BIM in North America, where users are now focusing on measurable benefits such as productivity, cycle time and cost rather than generalized benefits such as better communication and Challenges to Improving Value understanding through visualization. For comparison purposes, Western European users recognized Better multi-party communication and understanding from 3D visualization (75%), Improved project process outcomes, such as fewer RFIs and field coordination problems (71%), Reduced cycle time for project activities and delivery (69%), Improved productivity of personnel (68%), and Increased prefabrication (66%) as the most effective ways to improve business value in the 2010 BIM survey. Many South Korean users believe that while they are currently receiving numerous benefits from BIM, they are challenged with how to further improve BIM s business value. They perceive that contractual issues, the lack of sufficient project participants with BIM capabilities, and the functionality of BIM software are the most critical challenges to improving BIM s business value. On the other hand, North American and Western European users in 2009* and 2010, respectively, focused more on software-related challenges, specifically noting interoperability and software functionality. This difference may be due to the improvements in BIM software over the past two to three years, and also the realization of the importance of clear guidelines and contractual statements, as well as the need for partners with BIM capabilities, in order to facilitate successful BIM projects. South Korean users view the challenges in improving BIM s business value as more critical than North American or Western European users. Seventy percent of Korean BIM users identified 12 items as being highly or very highly critical whereas only three items were given the same level of importance by 70% of North American and Western European users. Eight in ten South Korean users view the following five challenges as highly or very highly critical: Top Five Challenges to Improving Business Value using BIM More clearly defined BIM deliverables between parties. Of South Korean BIM users, 83% view a clear definition of BIM s deliverables as one of the top challenges. It is their preference to always do more and see more. However, without a clear definition of a work boundary, the effort and time required to add more detail and * 2012 North American data unavailable Percentage of Korean and European Users Who Identify Items as Highly or Very Highly Influential Obstacles to ROI Improvement 0% More clearly defined BIM deliverables between parties Improved functionality of BIM software 70% 83% More use of contracts to support BIM and collaboration 58% 83% More external firms with BIM skills 63% 82% More internal staff with BIM skills 62% 81% More 3D building product manufacturer specific content 70% 79% Improved interoperability between software applications 76% 78% More readily available training in BIM 51% 78% Willingness of statutory authorities to accept models 55% 78% More incoming entry level staff with BIM skills 54% 77% More hard data demonstrating the business value of BIM 51% More owners asking for BIM 65% 70% Reduced cost of BIM software 60% 67% More readily available outsourced modeling services 41% 62% Integration of BIM data with mobile devices/applications 43% 52% 75% 63% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 83% Europe Korea 29

32 Internal Business Value of BIM information to BIM models can seem to be endless. For this reason, the American Institute of Architects and other organizations such as the BIMForum are defining the level of detail or the level of development (LOD) of BIM models by project phase. However, when the scope of BIM deliverables features at the center of a dispute, the interpretation and application of these guidelines in contractual terms are challenging because the guidelines only provide a high-level outline. Greater collective experience and accepted standards are required to define BIM deliverables between parties more clearly. More use of contracts to support BIM and collaboration. Another top challenge identified by the majority of South Korean users (83%) relates to contractual issues. Without clear contractual controls, project participants who are resistant to BIM can be disruptive on BIM-based projects. Even collaborators who are proactive at the beginning of a project can become uncooperative and default to old ways of working when problems arise or they become pressured to perform on a tight schedule. The survey shows that the majority of South Korean BIM users see contractual obligations as an effective solution to accelerate and enforce collaboration between project team members throughout a project. Improved functionality of BIM software. Like North American and Western European users, the majority of South Korean users (83%) view the limits of current functionality of BIM software as one of top challenges to improving business value. BIM software applications have rapidly improved; however, users expect even greater improvements. Interestingly, the interoperability issue, which topped the challenges list in North America and Western Europe, was not identified by South Korean users as being among their top five challenges. This is not because South Korean users view the interoperability issues as insignificant, in fact, 78% view interoperability as very critical. But there are other issues that South Korean users view as even more highly critical than interoperability. More external firms with BIM skills. BIM is a team sport, meaning it is fundamentally a collaborative process between all the key project participants. Without external firms that have adequate BIM skills and capabilities, BIM users can only receive partial benefits from its use. The majority of South Koreans (82%) perceive having more external firms with BIM skills as a highly critical challenge to improving the business value of BIM. More internal staff with BIM skills. Probably the first step toward exploiting BIM s benefits is to have internal staff with BIM skills. Of South Korean BIM users, 81% identify the lack of internal staff with the relevant skills as a critical challenge. Conclusions Users across all three regions South Korea, Western Europe, and North America perceived the same top internal business benefits from BIM. These benefits were Reduced errors and omissions in construction documents, Marketing new business to new clients, and Offering new services. It shows that current users see BIM both as providing new business opportunities and as a driver for achieving high-quality project outcomes through better communication between project participants and the use of drawings and construction documents that contain fewer errors. 30

33 Data: Project Value of BIM Overview In addition to improving specific aspects of a company s internal business, BIM can contribute unique value propositions to an entire project, both qualitatively and quantitatively. For example, South Korean, North American, and Western European users commonly perceived Improved collective understanding of design intent as being among the top three benefits of BIM usage. In general, South Korean users perceive the methods for achieving better outcomes, such as presentation/visualization of a design (79%) and spatial coordination (79%), as the primary benefits of BIM usage, whereas North American (2009) * and Western European (2010) users perceived the improved outcomes, such as reduced conflicts and improved overall project quality, as the primary benefits. In terms of project phases, all three regions perceived design development, technical design (construction documents), and construction as the project phases that most benefited from BIM. Koreans perceive that having BIMknowledgeable designers, contractors, clients, and fabricators are the top critical success factors for successful BIM projects whereas Western European users (2010) and North American users (2009) perceived BIM-knowledgeable designers, interoperability issues, and project complexity as the top critical success factors. Key Findings South Koreans perceive Presentation/visualization of architectural design (79%) and Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection (79%) as the BIM benefits that contribute most to a project s success, followed by Improved collective understanding of design intent (69%). In general, South Korean users perceive the inclusion of BIM-knowledgeable project participants (designers, contractors and owners) as the most critical project factor affecting the success of a BIM project. Project complexity and budget are also viewed as very critical factors contributing to BIM project success by South Korean users, but not a project s size, schedule, or location. Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe Improved collective understanding of design intent was commonly perceived as one of the major benefits of BIM that contributes most to a project s success in all three regions: South Korea, North America, and Western Europe. The majority of BIM users in South Korea, North America, and Western Europe perceived the design development and technical design phases as the project phases in which the most benefit was gained from BIM. South Korean users believe that it is most critical to have BIM-knowledgeable designers, contractors, clients, and fabricators on the team for a BIM project to be successful. However, North American and Western European users believed that BIM-knowledgeable designers are critical, but other factors such as interoperability issues and project complexity are more critical for a successful BIM project than having other types of BIM-knowledgeable project participants on the team. The interoperability issue, which was considered the most critical by North American and Western European users, is considered less critical by South Korean users. * 2012 North American data unavailable. 31

34 Project Value of BIM Percentage of Overall Users Who Perceive BIM Benefits as Contributing High or Very High Value to the Success of a Project Presentation/visualization of architectural design Spatial coordination (a.k.a. geometric clash detection) Improved collective understanding of design intent Improved overall project quality Reduced changes during construction Drive shop fabrication equipment Quantity take-off Space planning and utilization Greater client engagement 47% 46% 44% 44% 42% 55% 69% 79% 79% Better cost control/predictability Shop drawing process 4D scheduling Reduced conflicts during construction Better-performing completed buildings Structural analysis Operations & Maintenance Submittals process (other than shops) Cost estimation Energy analysis Faster client approval cycles Reduced number of RFIs (Requests for Information) Improved commissioning, close-out and turnover Reduced total project cost Less time documenting, more time designing Resource/labour planning Improved site safety Reduced overall project schedule Improved tender process Faster regulatory approval processes Greater community engagement 41% 41% 40% 38% 36% 35% 34% 34% 33% 31% 31% 31% 28% 28% 28% 26% 26% 25% 19% 14% 12% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 32

35 Project Value of BIM Introduction This section of the report addresses BIM benefits that accrue to projects (as opposed to providing business benefits for individual companies) and identifies which characteristics of a project make it more likely to benefit from BIM. Project benefits are discussed within the framework of four aspects: What are the current and future benefits to be derived from BIM; Which contribute most to the success of BIM projects; Which phase of a project benefits most from BIM; and What are project properties that have the greatest impact on the success of a project? Value by Project Phase One of the foundational principles of BIM projects is that early design-coordination efforts can reduce a lot of costs associated with design changes during later phases of a project lifecycle, and that BIM is an effective medium for that coordination. The surveys in all three regions (South Korea, North America, and Western Europe) consistently support this concept, showing that the majority of BIM users perceive design development and technical design as the project phases in which the most benefit is gained through BIM. A project lifecycle in the North America study was categorized based on the project phases specified in AIA B101, such as Schematic design and Construction documentation, while the Western Europe and South Korea studies used the project phases specified in the Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GDCPP), such as Concept and Technical design. Nearly six in ten BIM users in South Korea perceive the Design development (61%), Technical design (61%), and Construction (58%) phases as the project phases in which they experience the most benefit from BIM. Similar to South Korean users, North American users in 2009 perceived the Design development (54%), Construction documents (55%), and Construction (49%) phases to derive the most benefit from BIM. Western European users perceived Design development (69%), Technical design (67%), and Concept (58%) as the project phases that most benefitted from BIM usage. BIM s relatively high value to the Concept phase in Western Europe may reflect the longer period of time it has been deployed there and an increased comfort and familiarity with using it for the earliest design stage. Conversely, Construction (47%) only ranked sixth in that region. Compared to Western European users (50%), Korean users (26%) believe that BIM is less beneficial during the Tender documentation phase. Percentage of Users Who Perceive BIM as Highly or Very Highly Beneficial to Each Project Phase Appraisal Design brief Concept Design development Technical design Production information Tender documentation 26% Tender action 26% 30% Mobilization 26% 30% Construction Post practical completion 29% 32% 42% 37% 49% 47% 50% 55% 53% 51% 50% 61% 67% 53% 61% 58% 69% Korea Europe 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 2012 North American data unavailable 33

36 Project Value of BIM Project Properties Affecting the Project s Success The success of a project may be influenced by various project factors, such as the existence of BIMknowledgeable staff in the project team, the complexity, size, location, budget, and schedule of a project, the level of data exchange or interoperability between team members, and the contractual obligations that enforce BIM collaboration and coordination on project participants. The criticality level of each project property was surveyed. In general, South Korean users perceive the inclusion of BIM-knowledgeable project participants as the most critical factor affecting the success of a BIM project. Project complexity and budget are also viewed as very critical factors but project size, schedule, and location are not. (73%), Interoperability between software used by team members (67%), and Project complexity (63%) are the project factors most likely to influence a project s success. Western European users (2010) viewed Interoperability between software used by team members (61%) and Project complexity (60%) as the most influential project factors that impact the success of a project. BIMknowledgeable design professionals on the project (57%) was regarded as the third most influential factor. Percentage of Users Who Vote Items as Highly or Very Highly Influential Project Properties in Successful BIM Projects The interoperability issue, which was considered critical by North Americans in 2009 and Western Europeans in 2010, is considered less critical by South Korean users. In general this concern increases in importance as BIM maturity advances in a region and firms engage in more collaborative activities that would benefit from greater interoperability. South Korean BIM users perceive BIM-knowledgeable design professionals on the project (87%), BIMknowledgeable client (82%), BIM-knowledgeable construction companies on the project (77%) and BIMknowledgeable fabricators on the project (71%) as the very influential project factors impacting the success of a project. The human factor is the most critical success factor for any project. This desire for experienced project participants also scores very highly as a factor impacting the internal business value of individual companies using BIM. In addition to the above project factors related to team members, South Korean users also perceive Project complexity (76%) and Project budget (72%) as important project properties that impact the success of a BIM project. North American users (2009) reported that BIMknowledgeable design professionals on the project 0% BIM-knowledgeable design professionals on the project BIM-knowledgeable client BIM-knowledgeable construction companies on the project Project complexity Project budget BIM-knowledgeable fabricators on the project Amount of your previous experience working with the other companies on the project Number of BIM-knowledgeable companies on the project Interoperability between software used by team members Contract form that is supportive of BIM and/or collaboration Project size Project schedule Physical location of team members from multiple companies Project location 25% 39% 45% 56% 54 % 61% 67% 65% 71% 77% 76% 72% 87% 82% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2012 North American data unavailable 34

37 Project Value of BIM Perceived Value of BIM Five Years from Now South Korean users strongly believe that the current BIM benefits will contribute even more business value in five years time. Presentation/visualization of architectural design (84%), Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection (84%), and Improved collective understanding of design intent (81%) still lead the way as the top three project benefits of BIM. Top 5 BIM Benefits Contributing the Most Value Both Today and in the Future Users identified several benefits which, although not major current contributors to project value, show significant increases in users forecast of their impact five years from now including Energy analysis (30% to 54%), Operations and maintenance (35% to 54%), 4D scheduling (40% to 65%), Cost estimation (33% to 63%), and Quantity take-off (44% to 68%). Spatial coordination (a.k.a. geometric clash detection) 84% 79% Presentation/visualization of architectural design 84% 79% Improved collective understanding of design intent 81% 69% Improved overall project quality 55% 71% Future Quantity take-off 44% 68% Current 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Conclusions South Korean users believe that the top benefits of BIM are related to methods and processes, such as spatial coordination and presentation/visualization of designs using BIM, whereas Western European and North American users believed that the top benefits of BIM were improved outcomes, such as reduced conflicts and improved project outcomes. These different views may be attributed to differences in the cultures and the practices of these three regions. Nevertheless, whether the primary benefits of BIM are perceived to be derived in the process of using BIM or in the outcomes, in reality they are dependent on each other and highly correlated. Focusing on any one of these will return large benefits to the users. As BIM matures in Korea, having more BIM-knowledgeable participants will add to the success of BIM projects. However, as teams undertake more complex projects and the number of participants increases, the interoperability issue, which enables a fluid exchange of data between BIM participants, will become increasingly critical for the success of BIM projects. Korean users should prepare for the interoperability issue so that they can derive maximum benefit from BIM projects. 35

38 Data: Player Value of BIM Overview The perceived value of BIM varies greatly across the various types of organizations and users involved in BIM projects. So what is each user type s view with respect to the users that may be receiving the top BIM benefits? Whereas clients/ owners are perceived to be the greatest beneficiaries of BIM in South Korea, architects were perceived to be the greatest beneficiaries of BIM in Western Europe (2010) and in North America (2009).* However, except for Western Europe, non-architect groups saw themselves as receiving the highest ROI on BIM. Engineers in South Korea and contractors in North America (2009 and 2012) were the largest groups who reported the highest ROI on BIM. Key Findings The majority of South Korean users perceive clients/ owners (64%) to be the greatest beneficiaries of BIM In South Korea, engineers are most positive about the ROI of BIM. Seven in ten engineers experience a positive ROI. Architects do not view themselves as primary beneficiaries of BIM while all other groups view architects as one of the main beneficiaries of it. The majority of contractors (62%) and architects (58%) see a positive ROI on BIM. Perceived ROI by User Type Architect Contractor Engineer Other Negative 21% 12% 0% 32% Breakeven 21% 26% 29% 18% <10% 29% 21% 14% 23% 10-25% 13% 21% 43% 18% 25-50% 10% 9% 0% 5% % 5% 9% 14% 5% Over 100% 2% 2% 0% 0% Key Findings vs. North America and Western Europe In the 2009 North American and 2010 Western European surveys, architects (52% and 71%, respectively) were perceived as the greatest beneficiaries of BIM followed by structural engineers. But in South Korea architects are considered, overall, to only be the fourth most important beneficiaries of BIM (59%). Percentages of Architects, Engineers, and Contractors Who Saw a Positive ROI on BIM by Region 100% However, in North America both in 2009 and 2012, contractors reported receiving the highest value from BIM, while architects who were perceived as the greatest beneficiaries of BIM were in second place. In North America, engineers were the most negative about their ROI on BIM whereas, in South Korea, engineers see the highest value in BIM. 80% 60% 40% 65% 58% 58% 82% 71% 70% 45% 37% 63% 73% 74% 60% By the way of contrast, in Western Europe, architects (82%) were the most positive about BIM s ROI, and contractors (60%) were the most negative. * 2012 North American data unavailable. 20% 0% Architects Engineers Contractors S. Korea (2012) N. America (2009) N. America (2012) W. Europe (2010) 36

39 Player Value of BIM Introduction Each project participant has a different view on the primary beneficiaries of BIM. And some may not view themselves as a primary beneficiary of BIM. Also each project participant uses BIM differently during the various phases of a project and consequently receives a different degree of benefit. This section analyzes whom project participants perceive as the primary beneficiary and how much value they perceive from BIM. Who Gets the Most Value? The majority of South Korean users perceive clients/ owners (64%) to be the greatest beneficiaries of BIM, followed by general contractors (62%), construction managers (61%), architects (58%) and Structural and MEP/building services engineers (48% and 44%, respectively). In the 2009 North American and 2010 Western European surveys, architects (52% and 71%, respectively) were perceived as the greatest beneficiaries of BIM followed by structural engineers. Architects are considered to be the fourth most important beneficiaries of BIM in South Korea (59%). Clients/owners ranked sixth in North America in 2009 (26%) and fourth in Western Europe (42%), compared to the top beneficiary status they have in Korea (65%). Project Participants Who Are Perceived to Experience the Most Value Client 64% General Contractors 62% Construction Managers 61% Architects 58% Structural Engineers 48% MEP/Building Services Engineers 44% Fabricator/Specialist Contractors 40% Quantity Surveyors 36% Building Product Manufacturers/Distributors 27% Civil Engineers 26% 2012 North American data unavailable 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 37

40 Player Value of BIM In North America, contractors and construction managers (42%) and, in Western Europe, building service engineers (43%) were considered the third most important beneficiaries of BIM. Clients/Owners. When the whole lifecycle of a facility is considered, Korean users consider clients/owners to be the ultimate beneficiaries of BIM because they more reliably receive a high-quality building within the given project schedule and budget and with few problems. The generated BIM data has the potential to be used to effectively manage the completed facility, although it is not yet common to use BIM during the facility management (FM) phase. Contractors. Construction costs far exceed the value of the fees that other project participants receive. This effectively means that a one percent saving in construction costs through the use of BIM is very different from a one percent saving in the design or engineering fee. It is therefore natural that many users view contractors as major beneficiaries of BIM. Architects. Architects experience benefits by enhancing their ability to convey their design intent and reducing downstream problems related to documentation and coordination. They also seek to improve their compensation for their early effort and time when using BIM during the design phase, as referred to in other parts of this study. Engineers. Engineers are most positive about the ROI with respect to BIM, as explained later in this section, although the economic benefit that they receive is relatively small compared to that of clients and contractors. Moreover, interoperability issues limit their ability to exploit benefits from BIM further. Still, the efficiency and productivity gained by reduced repetitive data input and the increased reuse of information is beneficial. Beneficiaries of BIM by User Type Percentage of High or Very High BIM Beneficiaries As Perceived by User Group Beneficiary Evaluator Architect Contractor CM/Engineer Architects 49% 63% 67% Structural Engineers 41% 54% 57% MEP/Building Services Engineers 37% 55% 24% Civil Engineers 27% 27% 14% Client 61% 63% 71% Construction Managers 58% 61% 67% General Contractors 64% 63% 48% Fabricator/Specialist Contractors 37% 41% 48% Building Product Manufacturers/Distributors 32% 17% 33% Civil Engineers 36% 39% 29% There are both similarities and differences in how various user groups in the regions perceive their own and each other s experience of value from BIM. Each group s perception about the beneficiaries of BIM generally coincides with the overall perception of all the groups, except for the architecture group and the construction administrator/construction manager (CA/CM) group. Architects do not view themselves as a primary beneficiary of BIM while all other groups view architects as one of the main beneficiaries of BIM. This may have to do with architects concerns about not having an appropriate compensation mechanism for the additional work required to produce BIM models and to correct coordination errors in the early phase of a BIM project, as discussed in the Obstacles to BIM Implementation section. 38

41 Player Value of BIM Perceived ROI by User Type User groups in different regions perceived the level of the ROI on BIM very differently. Nearly six in ten contractors (63%) and architects (58%) see a positive ROI on BIM while seven in ten engineers (71%) perceive a positive ROI. Currently in South Korea, engineers have the lowest level of BIM adoption, but their user group has the highest percentage of experts. Since skilled users tend to derive more benefits from BIM than less skilled users, it follows that the current BIMusing engineers in Korea see the greatest ROI on BIM. This distribution may be normalized as engineers level of BIM adoption increases and, as a result, engineers with various levels of BIM skill join the BIM user pool. Comparing the 2009 and 2012 studies in North America, contractors consistently saw the highest value in BIM, and engineers are increasingly most pessimistic about their ROI. The percentage of user groups who answered that they perceived a positive ROI in 2009 and 2012 respectively were: Contractors: 73% in 2009; 74% in 2012 Architects: 58% in 2009; 65% in 2012 Engineers: 45% in 2009; 37% in 2012 ROI Perceived by Architects 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 2% 5% 10% 13% 29% 21% 21% S. Korea (2012) 15% 14% 19% 23% 11% 13% 10% W. Europe (2010) 5% 7% 14% 19% 13% 23% 19% N. America (2009) 8% 9% 19% 19% 10% 24% 11% N. America (2012) Over 100% % 25-50% 10-25% <10% Breakeven Negative Western Europe in 2010 showed a very different pattern. Contractors were most negative about the value of BIM. Architects were the largest group (82%) who perceived a positive ROI on BIM, followed by engineers (70%), and contractors (60%). ROI Perceived by Engineers ROI Perceived by Contractors 100% 80% 60% 40% 14% 43% 14% 2% 17% 25% 23% 13% 4% 2% 6% 11% 22% 22% 1% 6% 7% 16% 6% 22% Over 100% % 25-50% 10-25% <10% Breakeven Negative 100% 80% 60% 40% 2% 9% 9% 21% 21% 2% 2% 4% 26% 26% 20% 10% 8% 11% 27% 17% 6% 11% 10% 26% 21% Over 100% % 25-50% 10-25% <10% Breakeven Negative 20% 0% 29% S. Korea (2012) 20% 11% W. Europe (2010) 32% N. America (2009) 41% N. America (2012) 20% 0% 26% 12% S. Korea (2012) 20% W. Europe (2010) 16% 13% N. America (2009) 15% 11% N. America (2012) 39

42 Player Value of BIM Benefits from BIM by User Type Each user type perceived its BIM benefits differently. In North America, architects considered Better multiparty communication and understanding from 3D visualization to be the primary benefit of BIM, whereas engineers and contractors viewed A new marketing opportunity as the main benefit. In Western Europe, architects and contractors considered The collective understanding of design intent as the prime benefit whereas engineers viewed Better multi-party communication as the main advantage of BIM. In South Korea, architects perceive Presentation and visualization of architectural design as the top advantage of BIM usage, whereas engineers and contractors identify Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection as the main benefit. These top three benefits are the same for all three user groups with only their order being different. When the top five benefits are considered, the lists start to reflect the different roles of each group. Architects and engineers view Space planning and utilization as one of major benefits. Engineers further perceive Reduced changes during construction and Better cost control/predictability as the major advantages of BIM. Contractors consider Drive shop fabrication equipment to be one of the top five benefits whereas Space planning and utilization is not a very beneficial way of using BIM. While Drive shop fabrication equipment may be relevant to engineers, it is not to architects. Reduced changes during construction and Better cost control/ predictability are important to all project participants but are considered to be the most important to engineers. Top 15 Benefits by User Type Architects Engineers Contractors Presentation/visualization of architectural design 76% 88% 82% Spatial coordination (a.k.a. geometric clash detection) 73% 100% 89% Improved collective understanding of design intent 64% 86% 68% Improved overall project quality 56% 57% 55% Space planning and utilization 44% 71% 37% Better cost control/predictability 40% 71% 32% Quantity take-off 40% 57% 45% Reduced changes during construction 38% 86% 47% Drive shop fabrication equipment 38% 43% 53% Greater client engagement 36% 43% 42% Energy analysis 36% 14% 26% 4D scheduling 36% 43% 37% Reduced conflicts during construction 33% 43% 42% Better-performing completed buildings 33% 43% 29% Shop drawing process 33% 43% 39% 40

43 Player Value of BIM Architects Top Five Benefits Contractors Top Five Benefits Presentation/visualization of architectural design (76%) Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection (73%) Improved collective understanding of design intent (64%) Improved overall project quality (56%) Space planning and utilization (44%) Engineers Top Five Benefits Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection (100%) Presentation/visualization of architectural design (86%) Improved collective understanding of design intent (86%) Reduced changes during construction (86%) Better cost control/predictability (71%) Space planning and utilization (71%) Spatial coordination, a.k.a. geometric clash detection (89%) Presentation/visualization of architectural design (82%) Improved collective understanding of design intent (68%) Improved overall project quality (55%) Drive shop fabrication equipment (53%) Conclusions In South Korea and North America, project participants who were perceived as the major beneficiaries of BIM did not think that they were deriving a high ROI from BIM. In Western Europe, architects were perceived as the primary beneficiaries of BIM and also reported receiving the highest value from BIM. In South Korea, owners/ clients are perceived as the primary beneficiaries of BIM, but engineers report deriving the highest value from BIM. In North America, architects were perceived as the primary beneficiaries of BIM, but contractors reported deriving the highest ROI from BIM. This order may change in the future. In addition, as more and more players in a project perceive value from BIM usage, the question of who gets the most value from BIM may lose its significance. 41

44 as B e IM St ud y C From Impossible to BIMpossible The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) Project D ongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) is a new park and building project located at a historical and commercial site in Seoul, South Korea. Dongdaenum, which means Great East Gate, was one of four gates to Seoul during the Chosun dynasty. The DDP site is located right next to the Dongdaemum clothing market, which is now an Asian fashion hub. Before the DDP project, an old multi-purpose stadium occupied the site. A new stadium was built in Jamsil in 1984, and the Dongdaemun stadium was closed in The city of Seoul decided to build a new center of culture as a replacement for the old multi-purpose stadium and held an international design competition, which Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) won in The Challenges DDP is a unique and challenging project in many ways. Its free-form surface is covered with more than 45,000 aluminum sheet-metal panels. Each of the panels is unique, and more than half of them are doublecurved. Although some buildings around the world have small areas covered with double-curved sheetmetal panels, no existing buildings use this many of them. The large number of these panels greatly affected not only the project cost, but also the project schedule due to the long and complex design engineering, fabrication, and installation process. No rapid and affordable fabrication method existed. Another challenge was to construct free-form annex buildings made of reinforced concrete. Extraction of construction points for formwork and other related tasks was almost impossible using traditional 2D-based methods. Moreover, DDP had to be built more than twice as fast as other buildings with similar degrees of complexity due to a short construction duration. Also, despite the complexity of the project, the budget was very tight. Project Participants Although BIM was not mandated, the DDP team saw an excellent opportunity to deploy BIM to resolve all of these issues. That decision made DDP the first public building project to use BIM in South The Dongdaemun History & Culture Park in DDP 42

45 BIM Case Study Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) Project The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Korea. The project team was large, and comprised of a number of leading practitioners: City of Seoul was the main client. Samoo Architects & Engineering (Samoo), the local partner of ZHA, was in charge of construction documentation. ZHA and Samoo were also involved in the project as construction administrators (CA) during the construction phase. Group 5 and Evolute were the façade consultants during the design phase. The Samsung Construction and Trade (Samsung C&T) consortium was the main contractor. Gehry Technologies (GT) Korea was the BIM consultant during the construction phase. Kunwon Engineering, Global Team Space Engineering & Consulting (GTS E&C) and Heerim CM were the construction managers. DPP with 45,000 unique panels. Sheet-metal processing technologies considered at the beginning of the project by ZHA and Samoo were estimated at over US$ 7,000 per square meter, required at least two hours to produce each panel and the finish was not as smooth as expected. Because each panel had a unique shape, a way to masscustomize panels without using fixed molds was required. Masscustomization is a method to produce various custom-designed products at a low unit cost typically using computer-aided manufacturing technologies. After a couple of years of surveys and trial-and-error, SteelLife, a member company of the ISS consortium, developed a new hybrid sheet-metal processing technology combining multipoint forming and stretch forming, called multipoint stretch forming. The multipoint stretch forming machine was composed of hundreds of small posts with heights that were controlled by a computer. The posts, which were placed at upper and lower parts of the machine, became male and female dies. A sheet-metal blanket was placed between these two parts and was stretched horizontally to minimize wrinkles on the surface during pressing. To make the installed panels form a continuous and smooth curve, it was critical to fabricate each panel in an accurate shape. The height of each post and the boundary information were extracted from a BIM model, and tens of thousands of substructure parts, which held the sheet-metal panels, had to be accurately modeled and fabricated. The substructure parts were automatically generated in a BIM model by GT Korea. Although the fabrication cost and time vary dramatically depending on the complexity of the panel shapes, the average fabrication cost per panel was US$ , and the average fabrication time per panel to 15 to 40 min. At the time of publication of this report, 95% of the cladding work was complete. A consortium of Iljin Aluminum, SteelLife, and Steel E&C (ISS) acted as the cladding fabricator. A Partial BIM Model of the Façade Panels Mass-customization of Double-Curved Panels The first challenge was to find a rapid and affordable method for fabricating a large quantity of doublecurved façade panels. With modern sheet-metal processing technologies, almost any shape may be fabricated if the client is willing to pay very high costs. For example, most cars today use double-curved panels. However, in case of automobiles, the highly expensive cost for fabricating the molds to produce double-curved panels is offset by mass-producing cars. This was not the case for 43

46 as B e IM St ud y The Business Value of BIM in South Korea C Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) Project A Bird s Eye View of the DDP Main Building Formwork for Free-form Concrete Buildings For most of the project participants, it was the first time they had ever deployed BIM. Naturally, the project faced many challenges in the beginning. The construction process began in April 2009, but the BIM consulting firm, GT Korea, was hired two months after the main contractor. Due to this late involvement, the BIM team was barely caught up with the construction schedule for the first several months and could provide only partial geometrical information that was immediately required to build concrete forms for annex buildings. The annex building models were sliced every 30 cm and the cross- 44 sectional information was passed to formworkers, who used it to make ribs of concrete forms and placed thin plywood panels between them to form curved building shapes. This formwork process, despite the use of BIM, was very laborious and at least twice as expensive as that of more typical buildings. Communication Problems During this period of time, the project team also experienced communication and decision-making problems. The City of Seoul strongly felt the need for a common ground where all project participants could get together, discuss, and make decisions about important design issues. So they formed and ran an integrated design room from November 2009 to May 2012 which was used whenever important decisions needed to be made. Some collaborative sessions lasted more than two weeks. BIM models, projected on a screen, were used as a medium and catalyst for communication and decision-making, and many problems were discussed and resolved efficiently. After this collective learning-curve period, the project went much more smoothly. The integrated design room concept is very similar to the big room concept often used in the US. Interestingly, the Korean project team did not know about the big rooms in the US until recently. These independent experiences with the

47 as B e IM St ud y The Business Value of BIM in South Korea C Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) Project Formwork for an Annex Building same basic objectives reinforce the importance of having an integrated common venue for sharing, discussing, and resolving urgent issues during the BIM process. More to Come At DDP, BIM was also effectively used for preventing conflicts between the structure and the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, and also incorporated the emerging practice of integrating civil infrastructure information for coordination with the complex underground utilities of two nearby subway lines. Although the value of using BIM for the DDP project has not been quantitatively analyzed, the project team unanimously felt that DDP could not have been built on time and budget without BIM. As of August 24, 2012, 84 % of the construction had been completed. DDP is scheduled to be completed in July 2013, and will be open to the public in April 2014 after installing exhibition materials, shops, and other event-related facilities. DDP, with an interior that is as complex as its exterior, still faces many challenges to reach opening day. Nevertheless, these challenges seem less daunting to the project team, who are now experienced and have learned to effectively use BIM. 45

48 as B e IM St ud y C Quantifying the Value of MEP Coordination The Business Value of BIM in South Korea NCSoft R&D Center, Pangyo Techno Valley A lthough it is in the early stages of the construction phase, NCSoft Research and Development (R&D) Center s attempt to quantitatively analyze the economic impact of BIM-based Mechanical Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) represents an important advance in establishing the business value of BIM. NCSoft, founded in 1997, is one of the leading game publishers in South Korea, best known for Lineage, an internationally-popular Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game. NCSoft R&D Center, the company s second research center, is a design-bid-build project located in Pangyo Techno Valley on the outskirts of Seoul. Scheduled to be completed in 2013, it is twelve stories with five basement floors containing a variety of functions not only for research but also for the education, health care, and entertainment of the employees. Being a building for a video game company, it features extensive information technology (IT) and MEP systems. Although the building was initially designed without BIM, the main contractor, GS Engineering & Construction (GS E&C), believed there would be advantages to deploying BIM specifically to benefit the construction phase and made the decision to implement it. BIM Coordination for MEP To help develop the best strategy for deploying BIM, GS E&C consulted with DPR Construction (DPR), a US general contractor whose effective use of BIM A Rendered View of NCSoft R&D Center is well-known through the publication of several successful BIM case studies. DPR classifies BIM implementation in four levels, and recommended that GS E&C to implement BIM at Level 2: BIM-based MEP Design Optimization. After analyzing the design of the building, GS E&C decided to apply BIM to two of the above-grade floors and three of the below-grade floors which required especially complex MEP installation. GS E&C s previous BIM experiences were on a project basis; not coordinated on a company level. For the NCsoft R&D Center, a companywide BIM team was dispatched to the site to provide BIM training and technical assistance. Because the original design was created using conventional 2D applications, the first activity was to create BIM models for the target floors in order to begin BIM-based MEP coordination. BIM modelers with both shop knowledge and BIM skill were hired and assigned to the construction team to support the MEP subcontractors, who had little or no BIM capability at the time. The primary objective of the BIM coordination was to minimize the cost of the MEP construction by improving design quality and constructability during the pre-construction phase. The basic BIM technology that we used in this project was clash detection. However, we call what we did BIMbased design optimization, not BIM-based clash detection. The difference sounds minor. However the difference in what they signify is huge because this means that our goal is to achieve the optimal design considering constructability and costs, not the reduction of clashes, saidyeon-suk Jeong, a research engineer and BIM manager. Cost Trending with BIM A quantifiable cost analysis technique, 46

49 as B e IM St ud y The Business Value of BIM in South Korea C NCSoft R&D Center, Pangyo Techno Valley called Cost Trending, was used to track and compare cost changes for design decisions. In current practice, MEP components, unlike architectural and structural components, are not examined in detail during the design phase, and many spatial conflicts between different components occur during the construction phase, which commonly leads to cost and schedule overruns. BIM was used for the 3D modeling and quantity takeoff of the target floors. By combining individual 3D MEP components generated by subcontractors into a single combined 3D model, the construction team was able to resolve MEP conflicts, identify optimum MEP layouts, and generate design alternatives. For BIM coordination, Big Room meetings were held that gathered construction participants from the main contractor, BIM team, subcontractors, and BIM modelers into a single space to work collaboratively together. Based on the material quantities extracted from the design alternatives, the construction team evaluated the construction cost of each alternative and selected the most economical plan. The benefit of BIM coordination was most significant in the MEP design of the mechanical room on the 5th basement floor (see the 5th Basement Floor image), which contained a variety of MEP equipment including ducts, water pipes, and cable trays. Throughout the BIM coordination of the five target floors, over 2,000 errors were corrected and about 700 constructability improvements were made. Although, the first-cost reduction derived from this process was quite limited, the BIM team believes the avoided-cost from typical field problems is significant. Se-Jun Jang, a member of the BIM team, explained, Considering the fact that the cost of a conventional 2D-based MEP construction tends to increase as construction progresses due to previously unidentified design errors, the actual cost reduction would be much more than what we calculated. A Small Success Story Notwithstanding the overall improvements of design quality and A Partial MEP BIM Model of the Mechanical Room on the 5th Basement Floor constructability, the construction team experienced challenging issues and obstacles. In the beginning of the BIM coordination process, the subcontractors were skeptical about the benefits of BIM and were not very cooperative. But over time they became aware of the beneficial impact of BIM, which gradually transformed their work processes and improved their outcomes. The most challenging problem for all project participants was the need for continuous design modifications due to frequent client-directed change orders and unanticipated changes that were made on site. However, this classical problem did not derail the project. Because GS E&C is currently in the early stage of BIM implementation, we wanted a small success story to prove the immediate benefits of BIM, which can eventually persuade not only engineers at GS E&C, but also subcontractors and other project participants. I think we nearly accomplished our goal although we still have some issues to resolve, said Yeon-Suk Jeong. A Big Room Meeting for MEP Coordination 47

50 BIM Case Study Modeling a Sea Creature of Concrete and Steel The Theme Pavilion, Expo 2012 Yeosu, Korea The Business Value of BIM in South Korea The Theme Pavilion of Expo 2012 in Yeosu Korea, which was uniquely located offshore, exhibited a series of multimedia shows illustrating the Expo s theme from May 12 to August 12, The pavilion was designed by soma Architecture (soma), which won an international competition held by the Expo Organizing Committee in The building, which was built on a breakwater, has a total floor area of 7,591 m 2 and is composed of thematic exhibition halls and the Ocean and Coast Best Practice Areas. The shape of the pavilion, designed to express the Expo s theme the Living Ocean and Coast, is characterized by five vertical cones on the seaside, which represent sea creatures on rocks, and a kinetic façade on the landside, which resembles and moves like the gill of a fish. Design Camp Moon Park (dmp), the local partner of soma, was involved in the design development and construction documents. Hyundai Engineering and Construction (Hyundai E&C), which is also a main contractor of the new National Museum of Qatar designed by Jean Nouvel, was the main contractor. BIM Implementation The key challenge of the project was to complete a complex building with free-form shape on an offshore site in just 18 months. These constraints created an excellent opportunity for BIM as a solution. Although the overall results of BIM implementation were quite successful, it was not without its own unique challenges. The initial, ambitious plan was to apply BIM to 24 areas, but ultimately BIM was applied only to six of the most critical areas: free-form design and parametric modeling; panelizing the façade and roof; extracting construction coordinates; quantity take-off of building materials; Analyzing the curvature of the building skin; and generating 2D drawings. Different participants employed different BIM applications at different points of the building process. Architects at soma generated the initial 3D model and shared it, as the master BIM model, with other participants who then used different applications depending on their specialties and past experience. This heterogeneity of BIM applications, together with the partial implementation of BIM, made the overall data sharing among different participants a major challenge. For example, the steel fabricator could not generate a fabrication model directly from the soma s master model, but generated it using its own preferred application based mostly on 2D drawings and only partially on BIM data from soma s local partner architect, dmp. Construction of Concrete Cones There were many construction issues due to the complex building shape and unusual site. Among them, the construction of the seaside-exposed mass concrete cones was of the highest priority. Although designed as a single gigantic concrete piece, in order to build the cones they had to be panelized into small pieces so that individual concrete molds could be fabricated. Hyundai E&C and dmp agreed to divide the cones into basic modules 3200 mm x 2300 mm in size. Steel concrete forms were used to bear the horizontal pressure of the heavy concrete mix. However, each form was unique and double-curved, and the time and budget were limited. The project team considered design A Landside View of the Theme Pavilion, Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea The façade moves like gills of a fish. 48

51 as B e IM St ud y The Business Value of BIM in South Korea C The Theme Pavilion, Expo 2012 Yeosu, Korea rationalization to reduce the number of complex forms and increase form reuse, but they also were aware that SteelLife had developed a new sheetmetal processing method to rapidly fabricate double-curved metal panels for the Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza (DDP) project in Seoul using BIM data. So, in a collective effort to maintain the original design integrity, they hired SteelLife to work with a steel form fabricator, even though SteelLife specializes in cladding. Minimizing construction errors while maintaining the surface curvature of the cones as designed was also challenging. Due to the limited temporary construction space on the seaside, the outer form panels could not be firmly supported. One possible solution was to use a barge to support the concrete forms on the seaside, but it was not feasible because of the high tide range. Instead, both the inner and outer form panels were tied and supported only from the inside. They were installed based on 2D drawings and their locations were inspected using the dmp s 3D data book generated from their BIM model. However, since the panels could not be inspected from the seaside, some errors could not be identified and corrected. After the formwork, buckets were used to pour concrete into the wall form panels because no space was available for a pump car. Kyu Rhee, Project Leader at dmp, said Due to its free-form shape, this project was even more challenging than others because errors in one place were accumulated and transferred to the next place. However, it was very difficult to quantitatively say how much error was acceptable. As a Construction Administrator (CA), this was most challenging. A Turning Point Interestingly, all of the project participants unanimously agreed that the most beneficial use of BIM on the project was the construction of a 1/200 scale model generated by a 3D printer. In the early phase of the construction, due to the abnormal shape of the building, most subcontractors did not fully understand the building configuration even with the virtual mockup. Although they could see 3D views of the building on a screen, figuring out the construction details of building components was still challenging. As a solution, dmp and Hyundai E&C decided to create a 1/200 scale physical model of the building from a BIM model using a 3D printer. The scale model included the major structural components in detail and could be opened to show the inside. The 3D printer model was a turning point that speeded up the overall construction process by enabling the Formwork of the Free-Form Shaped Concrete Cones subcontractors, field engineers, and workers to identify potential problems in advance and to solve them through collaboration. Unlike many other projects, MEP coordination was not a critical issue because the building had a very high ceiling, which allowed enough room to easily accommodate all the ducts and other equipment without conflicts. This project is also notable for a positive change in the current construction practice. In a conventional design-bid-build process, the role of an architect normally ends after submitting project deliverables, and only limited site involvement remains thereafter. Although this project was constructed under a design-bid-build contract, the client and main contractor decided to hire dmp as a Construction Administrator (CA) considering the project s complexity and its critical use of BIM. During the construction, the CA played important roles both as an immediate responder to inquiries from the construction team, and as a contractorside supervisor to ensure the quality of the construction. The additional expense for employing a CA was well paid-off to keep the construction schedule on track and maintain the construction quality, recalls Kisoo Lee, a manager of Hyundai E&C. The 1/200 Scale 3D Printer Model of the Theme Pavilion 49

52 as B e IM St ud y C Lessons from an Early Open BIM Project The Business Value of BIM in South Korea The New Korea Power Exchange Headquarters Building, Naju, Korea O pen BIM refers to an approach for generating, sharing, and using information collaboratively based on open standards such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). Open BIM is challenging because it requires data be exchanged proactively between parties and software applications. The Korea Power Exchange (KPX) Relocation Project was the first Open BIM project in Korea, which the Korean government mandated should use IFC. The KPX, a nonprofit organization in the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), manages the flow of electricity and operates the electricity market for reliable power supply. The KPX s new headquarters building is a nine-story building with a steel reinforced concrete structure, whose total floor area is about 30,000 m2. Construction began in June A design competition for the project was held in 2010, and Heerim Architects & Planners (Heerim) was chosen. The project attracted keen attention from the government and the private sector because the KPX requested BIM be used comprehensively throughout the building lifecycle, including the design, construction, and maintenance phases. Through this project, the KPX, as a public organization, aimed not only to reduce the building s construction and management costs but also to provide a successful model for future BIM-based government projects. It was also a meaningful opportunity for the architect, Heerim, as the first full-scale Open BIM project in Korea. The design competition process provided many valuable lessons for future BIM-mandated projects in South Korea. The guidelines included detailed requirements, such as model structures, site coordinates, and object properties, for four BIM models to be submitted for design evaluation: a building model to evaluate the basic quality of the architectural and structural elements, a spatial model to evaluate the spatial requirements of indoor and outdoor spaces, an envelope model to evaluate the energy performance of building skins, and an envelope and site model to evaluate the overall visual quality of the final design. To minimize vendor dependence of specific BIM applications, the contestants were required to submit four IFC files, a standard Open BIM format, by converting original BIM models. The KPX also provided a temporary license for a popular BIM-based model checking tool to the contestants to self-evaluate their BIM models. The evaluation process consisted of two phases: the quantitative preevaluation phase and the qualitative main evaluation phase. For the preevaluation, the first three IFC files, the building model, the spatial model, and the envelope model, were checked to measure their degree of satisfaction of the three requirement criteria: BIM basic quality, space requirements, and building energy performance. After the pre-evaluation, the qualitative main evaluation was conducted to judge the quality of the architectural and structural design based on 2D drawings and images, a rapid prototype model, and a fly-through animation from the fourth IFC file, the envelope and site model. Technological Problems To prepare for this two-phase evaluation process, the contestants had to use many software applications. Heerim, for example, initially used a popular free-form 3D modeling tool to generate a 3D model and a rapid prototype 3D model, and then used a full-functioned BIM authoring tool to produce the BIMbased model checking tool. IFC files were fed to the BIM-based model checking tool for clash detection. The firm also used another earlydesign-stage 3D modeling too in conjunction with a web-based virtual map program to create a fly-through A Perspective View of the New Korea Power Exchange Headquarters Building Design Evaluation with BIM The KPX provided the competition contestants with BIM modeling guidelines and evaluation criteria. 50

53 BIM Case Study The New Korea Power Exchange Headquarters Building, Naju, Korea The Business Value of BIM in South Korea animation. During these complex processes, the most critical task was ensuring the data integrity of the model files before and after they were converted between different applications. The Heerim design team performed a series of test procedures to minimize data loss when the final IFC files were generated, but some data were unavoidably lost due to the software applications different native data structures. The file conversion processes were very time-consuming and cumbersome. If applications had better data exchange capability, the entire project would be much easier and less time-consuming, said Sungmin Jin, the manager of the design team. After the design competition was completed, BIM was required to complete the project. For the design development and construction documents, some of the lowpriority initial BIM requirements were excluded through negotiations between Heerim and the KPX. Heerim and MEP engineering companies modeled and uploaded their design data to a common file server for easy data sharing. The firms also had several Big Room meetings with all the participants to review the overall design progress and resolve design conflicts. By using 3D BIM models, the participants detected and corrected most of the design clashes. However, as the design progressed and more detailed design information was added to the BIM models, the computing power revealed limitations in handling heavy BIM models. Lessons for the Future During the design phases, the KPX and Heerim encountered unexpected difficulties and issues because of their limited experience with BIM. Some of the issues, such as interoperability and large data files, would be resolved as the functionality and performance of BIM applications improved over time, but others were not easily resolved with technological improvements alone. First, like many other projects, frequent design changes, some of which were of unclear incremental value to the project, imposed additional, burdens on the design team. Second, in addition to 3D BIM models, conventional 2D drawings also had to be submitted, which required post-production on original 2D drawings generated by BIM software to meet conventional drawing standards. Hyung Sup Sim, the chief architect of the design team, said, We recognized the benefits of BIM while carrying out this project. However, owners should understand that it takes a lot more effort and time to do more up front. It will be beneficial to have an appropriate incentive program for architects when BIM must be used at various levels in an early design stage. This thought was conveyed to the client and motivated the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs to hire the Korean Institute of Architects and buildingsmart Korea to survey the amount of work added during the design phase of a BIM project. The preliminary survey indicated that BIM projects added, cumulatively, about 30% more person-hours during the overall design phases (6.5% during the schematic design phase, 11% during the design development phase, and 17% during the construction documentation phase). The survey result was described as preliminary due to the small sample size and also because South Korea was still in the early phase of BIM adoption: i.e., these extra hours will be reduced as a firm gets more experience and the learning curve diminishes. This project, in many aspects, was a breakthrough that demonstrated an unprecedented level of BIM implementation in South Korea, and generated many valuable lessons. First, despite a few struggles, the project proved that Open BIM can be used effectively in real-world building projects. This project also revealed some technical shortcomings of current BIM technologies that must be overcome to improve the efficiency and productivity of BIM practice. Moreover, the project is a reference for future BIM-mandated projects in South Korea to establish their BIM requirements. It was a challenging project to leverage our competitiveness for future BIMbased projects by acquiring a variety of BIM skills and experiences. We also learned that BIM requirements need to be tailored according to the characteristics of a project as well as the overall BIM maturity of the industry, recalled Ah Young Lee, the vice president of Heerim. A Section View of the Integrated BIM Model A 3D View of the Mechanical BIM Model 51

54 Thought Leader: Private Sector Yeon-Joo Jung, Vice Chairman/CEO Samsung C&T The Business Value of BIM in South Korea [SmartMarket Report (SMR)] What motivated Samsung C&T to adopt BIM early? Yeon-Joo Jung (Jung) (Jung approached the answer from the company s management philosophy.) Samsung C&T is trying to deliver the best value to both clients and end-users (that is, building residents and facility users). To deliver the best value to our customers, we need a cycle of designing, engineering, and building a high-quality facility, and a process of accumulating lessons from each project as knowledge and best practices after construction. We viewed BIM as a container and method to hold the knowledge accumulated through this iterative and sustainable process. For example, we recently finished developing the second version of the BIM platform integrated with our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. (Later, the BIM team provided more details on the new BIM platform, which is called the Integrated BIM Collaboration System. It can exchange quantity takeoff and person-hour information with BIM applications. A program is underway to provide integration with several popular BIM software tools.) The more accurate design information is, the more accurate the quantity takeoff is. Accurate quantity takeoff can reduce the chances of acquiring bad (notprofitable) projects. Accurate design information during the design phase also results in high-quality construction even if modifications and elaborations of design information are inevitable during construction. Successful projects will eventually bring us more projects. BIM can play a great role in this. However, Samsung Construction and Trading (Samsung C&T) is widely known as a main contractor on the construction of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. With about 7,000 employees in architecture, civil engineering, plant, housing, and project development, Samsung C&T was the first main contractor to adopt BIM at a company-wide level in South Korea and currently has a very proactive BIM team. Before Samsung C&T, several efforts were made to deploy BIM on a project basis, but no strategic approaches were taken at a company level. Samsung C&T established a 5-year BIM roadmap in 2008, ran a BIM task force in 2009, and founded a company-wide BIM team in Among 215 projects by Samsung C&T, about 30% used BIM. In many cases, BIM is applied to specific floors or areas where it is most effectively used, although numerous projects have actively adopted BIM throughout the construction process. Yeon-Joo Jung, CEO answers questions about what motivated Samsung C&T to adopt BIM, what the benefits are, and what vision he wants to achieve. We identified BIM as a must-do subject of the company, which won t be abandoned even if the upper level managers are changed, so that BIM can be continuously implemented. this process is complex and difficult. It involves communication with project participants at various levels including the client, subcontractors, and others. Project participants need to learn and use complex tools that can do more and store more information. If we give up because this transformation process is difficult, we will lose market competitiveness. I believe that the transformation has occurred over the last couple of years and that we are ready to move forward. [SMR] Speaking of difficulties during the BIM adoption phase, how do you deal with internal resistance? Another question is how to guarantee continuous investment in BIM? Jung We identified BIM as a must-do subject of the company, which won t be abandoned even if the upper level managers are changed, so that BIM can be continuously implemented. BIM, like many other approaches, is all about people. For the past couple of years, we continuously hired leading BIM experts from inside and outside Korea and continuously provided BIM training and education programs to all of our employees and subcontractors. Longterm clients, who have vision and do not focus on short-term benefits, are very important to us. However, long-term subcontractors, who are willing to grow together with us and work towards a global market, are important as well. [SMR] I know you are still in the process of implementing BIM. But what do you perceive as the major benefits of BIM thus far? Jung For successful BIM implementation, BIM and all management values should move together. Having said that, it s difficult to quantitatively determine how many benefits we have earned, but I clearly see the changes. For the past couple of years, the number of high-profit and high-quality projects has increased while schedule delays have decreased. Opportunities for large projects are increasing. To increase revenue, soft power is the key, not the cost per person-hour. Engineering capability creates the value of a company. Marketing based on engineering capability creates the revenue. We are expecting a 30 % increase in revenue in the next two years. [SMR] What are your future plans? Jung BIM is a stepping-stone towards the global market to us. We expect to hire and grow more people suitable for the global market not only in terms of BIM but also in terms of languages and other skills. In parallel, we are developing incentive programs for leading BIM participants. In our role as their global partner, we continuously strive to create superior value for our customers. 52

55 The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Upgrading MEP BIM Capabilities of South Korea Within the Korean market, architectural and structural Building Information Modeling (BIM) is advancing at a steady pace. However, BIM for Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing (MEP) systems lag far behind the US. Working with Subcontractors A number of Korean in an MEP BIM Environment projects that adopted BIMbased MEP coordination are rapidly increasing, but it is still rare to find MEP contractors with BIM capability in Korea, whereas successful cases of MEP BIM in the US have been publicized for several years. Samsung recognized MEP BIM as an important step towards the next level of BIM and recruited Denis Leff, a former BIM manager at Lend Lease, as a BIM manager in charge of its new MEP BIM initiative.the goal was not only for Samsung s employees, but also subcontractors, to utilize BIM along with efficient and accurate laser layout tools.the goal is for subcontractors, as well as Samsung, to receive the benefits of full and reliable MEP coordination, estimation, and automated fabrication by sending the models directly to coil lines and plasma cutters.through this MEP BIM process, Samsung also aimed to identify prefabrication opportunities that maximize productivity. Since February, 2011, Samsung s BIM team, which is composed of 40 people working full-time for the companywide BIM initiative and additional BIM staff working at each site, trained internal MEP BIM staff, who in turn trained the subcontractors working on their jobsites to create models and shop drawings and to install MEP systems using fabrication tools. As of the date of publication, Samsung has educated over 20 subcontracting firms to apply this advanced BIM process to six of their projects. Samsung and its local Korean subcontractors have now become proficient in the MEP BIM tools to create coordinated models and shop drawings. Additionally, the team has developed a Korea Industrial Standards (KS) MEP database that contains piping system content from Korean vendors. On the air/ventilation side, the database has been programmed for Korean fabrication standards and specifications including sheet metal material and gauges, connector types, seams, stiffeners, and more, allowing the BIM model to be directly fabricated by the computerized numeric control (CNC) machines in Korea. The results have been positive, yielding BIM models that are fully coordinated and ready for fabrication. Hundreds of otherwise undetectable design and coordination issues have been found before fabrication. A new shop drawing standard is under development by Samsung, where each part is assigned a unique identifier (ID), so they can be tracked from fabrication through delivery to the correct location on site for installation. Sample Ductwork Output Ready For Fabrication A New Shop Drawing Standard with a Unique Part ID A Combined MEP BIM Model In addition, Samsung is working on other projects to integrate laser layout systems to help ensure more precise field layout of the MEP systems as they are shown on the shop drawings. Samsung plans to continue to improve their MEP BIM value chain processes from design through preconstruction, fabrication, installation, and into facilities management. Samsung hopes that this MEP BIM effort will get Samsung closer to its goal of building the world faster, greener, and safer. Our industry s new generation (of employees) is losing motivation. I hope that BIM motivates them and also serves as a turning point for our industry to break its old bad habits said Sangwon Lee, BIM Manager at Samsung. 53

56 Thought Leader: Public Sector The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Bang-Seob Shim, Director / Housing Project Office I Ju-Heon Oh, Manager / Housing Project Office I The Korea Land & Housing (LH) Corporation, Korea Public Procurement Service (PPS), and the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) are major public organizations leading BIM efforts in South Korea. MLTM is the highest level organization that administrates affairs related to the land, transport, and maritime applications. PPS, an organization that is independent from MLTM, builds and manages public buildings, similar to the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). PPS has mandated the use of BIM on turnkey projects over 50 billion won (44 million USD) from 2012 onward. LH is affiliated with MLTM. LH is a public company, with a primary goal to supply affordable residential buildings and living environments to the public. It supplies approximately 130,000 housing units a year, mostly in the form of large apartment complexes composed of over 1,000 housing units each. LH is the first public organization to mandate BIM via a design competition. Ju-Heon Oh and Bang-Seob Shim are leading the BIM efforts at LH. [SmartMarket Report (SMR)] Although each apartment building LH creates is somewhat different in detail, in general they are quite standardized. What were your motivations and goals for adopting BIM in housing projects? LH A team of two or three people manages 10,000 housing units at a time. We needed a better and more efficient way to manage the planning, procurement, design, construction, operation, and maintenance phases of projects. Our immediate goals were to improve the quality of documents and to shorten decisionmaking processes. A slightly longterm goal was to develop an accurate and automated cost estimation system, which we are still working on. We are also interested in improving the sustainability aspects of our buildings by adopting BIM. [SMR] How did it begin and what happened since then? LH After running a pilot BIM project at Hwachon, Yangju in 2008, LH announced the first BIM-mandated design competition for a new apartment complex at Unjung, Paju in BIM approaches were mandated for two more BIM projects in 2010, and an additional two projects in All of these projects were apartment complex projects composed of 1,000 to 2,500 housing units. In 2011, BIM was applied to the construction documentation (CD) phase. Before 2011, BIM was applied only to the schematic design (SD) and design development (DD) phases. Some of these projects will begin their construction phases soon. [SMR] How was BIM used? And what were the major benefits? LH During the pilot project, BIM was used only for modeling apartment units. After the pilot project, we gained confidence and expanded the use of BIM to the whole apartment complex. BIM influenced the presentation and communication medium. BIM models were actively used during meetings instead of 2D drawings. Using a BIM model, the impact of design changes on a unit plan during an apartment evaluation could be immediately observed. BIM was also used for assessing clashes between various facilities such as ventilation towers on a road and between ducts and structures in underground parking spaces. The floor area of each space was checked and tracked using BIM. We used BIM in daylight simulations, green space analyses, and to calculate the percentages of window area on facades. We felt that all of these processes were beneficial. [SMR] What s next? LH We faced several challenges while mandating BIM on our projects. Among them, lack of clear BIM guidelines was the most critical issue. The MLTM released a BIM guide in 2010, but it only provided high-level guidelines, and did not include guidelines that could be used by practitioners. Lack of practical-level BIM guidelines was not only our problem. As a public organization, we felt that we should lead the effort to develop a practicallevel BIM guide that could be useful to other organizations besides our own. Last year, we hired a team to develop a BIM guideline composed of four sections: 1) BIM design guide, 2) BIM evaluation guide, 3) BIM design report documentation guide, and 4) BIM execution planning guide for the owner. The BIM guides will be released to the public in September 2012, with templates for popular BIM tools. We are trying to strengthen BIM within LH in three aspects for the next five years: process, technology, and people. Development of the BIM guidelines was an effort to systemize a BIM process. We hope to set up a BIM education program for our employees. We are planning to develop a system that can automatically check the quality of BIM models. Currently LH does not have a company-wide BIM team. However, the BIM-related work is increasing. The five-year plan includes a plan to set up a companywide BIM team. Our next BIM project is our new headquarters building project. We are excited about this project. 54

57 Methodology: The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Study Research The Business Value of BIM in South Korea The Business Value of BIM in South Korea research study was conducted using three methods: a nationwide survey, interviews, and case studies. The two main goals of the survey were to assess the level of BIM adoption in South Korea and to understand how Korean professionals perceived the business value of BIM after implementing BIM in their projects. The nationwide survey was conducted online from August 15 to September 22, 2012 with industry professionals in South Korea. The invitation to the survey was distributed with the help of the Construction Management Association of Korea, the Korea Architects Institute, the Korea Mechanical Construction Contractors Association, the Korea Specialty Contractors Association, the Korean Structural Engineers Association, All-BIM, and Must-BIM. The survey questionnaire was the same one used in McGraw-Hill s North America and Western Europe surveys in order to be able to compare the survey results between different regions in this report. The survey was not restricted to one response per company because users from the same company might have different roles and work experiences therefore, different perceptions of BIM. Among 298 survey participants, a total of 264 respondents completed the survey. The respondents included 93 architects (35%), 78 contractors (30%), 52 construction administrators and managers (20%), 19 owners (7%), 20 engineers (8%), and 2 other industry respondents (1%). The respondents industry experience was almost equally distributed throughout all ranges. In North America, construction managers (CM) are associated with general contractors and were thus included in the contractors user group in the North American surveys. In this survey however, CM and construction administrators (CA) were analyzed as a separate group, independent of contractors, because CA/CMs are an independent entity or, if not, are often associated with architectural or engineering firms rather than general contractors in South Korea. This fact is reflected in the analysis. Among the 264 respondents, 153 (58%) answered We are using BIM (BIM user group), 103 (39%) We know about BIM, but are not using BIM (non-bim users), and 8 (3%) We have not heard about BIM. The BIM user group and the non-bim user group were asked different sets of questions. Since the respondents new to BIM did not have sufficient knowledge to answer BIM-related questions, these respondents were not asked any further questions. Specific questions such as BIM adoption obstacles and drivers were asked only of non-bim users. Specific questions such as BIM implementation obstacles and BIM values were asked only of BIM users. The reliability of the survey results was tested using Cronbach s alpha. In social science, a survey is reliable if Cronbach s alpha is higher than 0.6. Since the BIM users and the non-bim users were asked different sets of questions, the reliability tests were conducted separately for the BIM and non-bim user groups. The survey responses were highly reliable. The Cronbach s alpha value of the survey data for the BIM user group was 0.987, and the Cronbach s alpha value for the non-bim user group was Respondent Profile Architects 35% CA/CM 20% Owners 7% Engineers 8% Contractors 29% Other 1% Respondent Industry Experience Over 25 years 17% years 12% years 16% Less than 5 years 19% 5-10 years 15% years 21% Respondent BIM Experience BIM users 58% Not aware of BIM 3% Non-BIM users 39% 55

58 Glossary: Definition of Terms Used The Business Value of BIM in South Korea 3-D Parametric Model: Model elements not only have the visual aspects of the building aspects they represent but also have the properties of the solids they represent. 4-D Model: Term used to describe the linkage of a schedule to a 3D model. 5-D Model: Term used to describe the linkage of cost estimating to a 3D model. Building Information Model or Building Information Modeling (BIM): A building information model (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such, it serves as a shared resource for information about a facility and forms a reliable basis for decisions during its lifecycle from inception onward. Building Information Modeling (BIM) refers broadly to the creation and use of digital models and related collaborative processes between companies to leverage the value of the models. BIM Collaboration: BIM collaboration means working together cooperatively as a team using BIM as a communication medium. True collaboration requires all of the team members to have a single understanding of goals so that their efforts can be supportive and complementary of one another. Depth of BIM Implementation: The percentage of a company s projects on which it actually uses BIM. The depth of implementation is also referred to as the depth of involvement, the depth of BIM adoption and the level of BIM integration in this study. Integrated Design Process (IDP): Active participation in all stages of design for all disciplines involved in the design, construction and, at times, the operation of the building. An integrated design team usually includes an owner s representative; architect; mechanical, electrical and structural engineers; and construction manager and/or general contractor. It can also include future building occupants, facility managers and maintenance staff, subcontractors for major trades and building product manufacturers. Lean Construction: The translation and adoption of lean manufacturing principles and practices to the end-to-end design and construction process. Lean construction is concerned with the holistic pursuit of concurrent and continuous improvements in all dimensions of the built and natural environment: design, construction, activation, maintenance, salvaging and recycling. This approach tries to manage and improve construction processes with minimum cost and maximum value by considering customer needs. Level of BIM Adoption: The percentage of BIM users in the industry. Lifecycle Analysis: A lifecycle refers to the entire life of a project from the earliest planning until the building s demolition and recycling of materials. The energy consumption and maintenance costs of a project are important aspects of the lifecycle cost. Prefabrication: The practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site and trans-porting complete assemblies or subassemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Model-driven prefabrication describes the use of the BIM model to enable prefabrication and assembly of building components both off and on the construction site. Quantity Takeoff: The quantity takeoff for a project is the list of materials required to construct that particular project. The BIM model is a very effective means to generate such a list, since the list will automatically update itself with changes made to the model. This information will become the basis for the cost estimate for the project. Risk: The chance of injury, damage or loss. Risk is an important consideration in construction projects. Ultimately, the owner of a project will generally assume the majority of the risk for a project. It is, however, in the interest of the project team members to reduce risk to a minimum. Integrated Project Delivery (IPD): The delivery of a construction project according to a contract that calls for an integrated design process and that clarifies the legal responsibilities and risks born by all members of the project team. Interoperability: The ability of data-rich models to share valuable data, either through import or export. Value Engineering: Analysis conducted late in the design process or during construction aimed at reducing the cost of construction. Visualization: The creation of a clear picture of something in the mind. A 3-D model is a symbolic representation of an object that is to be designed in order to aid in the visualization of that object. 56

59 Resources: Organizations, websites and publications that can help you get smarter about building information modeling The Business Value of BIM in South Korea Main Website: construction.com Research & Analytics: construction.com/ market_research Engineering News-Record: enr.com Architectural Record: archrecord.com GreenSource: greensourcemag.com Sweets: sweets.com Premier Corporate Partner Acknowledgements: The authors wish to thank our sponsors for funding this study, and associations and BIM communities in Korea for helping us to distribute the survey in South Korea. Specifically we would like to thank buildingsmart Korea, the Construction Management Association of Korea, the Korea Architects Institute, the Korea Mechanical Construction Contractors Association, the Korea Specialty Contractors Association, the Korean Structural Engineers Association, All-BIM, and Must-BIM. We also appreciate Miyoung Uhm, Jongsung Won, Dr. Sungil Ham, Younghyun Park, Taekwan Lee, Hyungjun Yang, and Sanghun Kim at Yonsei University, and Minho Oh and Dawoom Kim at Sejong University for their help in double-checking the data and in developing the Korean version of the SmartMarket Report within a limited period of time. Finally, we would like to thank all the contributors who participated in the survey, the case studies, and the interviews. Established in 1938, Samsung Construction & Trading (C&T) is the original company of the Samsung Group, South Korea s largest conglomerate with interests in construction, electronics, chemicals, finance, and numerous other sectors. Today, the company s two C&T business groups - Engineering & Construction and Trading & Investment - are involved in a broad and growing portfolio of businesses, delivering creative, integrated business solutions to customers worldwide. The Engineering & Construction Group is best known for its advanced technological expertise and experience in building, civil infrastructure, plant, housing, and development. Corporate Contributor Sponsor Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries - including the last 17 Academy Award winners for Best Visual Effects - use Autodesk software to design, visualize and simulate their ideas. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk continues to develop the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art software for global markets. For additional information about Autodesk, visit Corporate Contributor Sponsor CSI Global Services brings together technical expertise and worldwide industry experience to assist clients with developing and benefiting from implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) processes. CSI takes a multi-disciplined approach to its services, choosing specialists for their experience and knowledge of the architectural, engineering and construction industries. Practical, targeted and effective in our approach, we then integrate our specialists into our clients businesses to ensure our services lead to improved performance, processes, systems and people. csigs.com.au Corporate Contributor Sponsor Trimble s Building Construction Division is a leading innovator of productivity solutions for the building construction contractor. Trimble s solutions target general, concrete, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing contractors on large and small commercial, industrial and residential jobsites. Trimble is focused on delivering solutions that tightly link office based process and information with the field crew including taking Building Information Modeling (BIM) and other design data to the field for highly accurate positioning and layout of foundations and mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems. Trimble solutions provide a high-level of process and workflow integration from the design phase through to the finished project delivering significant improvements in productivity throughout the building construction lifecycle. Corporate Contributor Sponsor Korean Associations Technical Sales International (TSI), a strategic partner of both Autodesk and Trimble, offers the HVAC and MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) industries only fully integrated BIM software solutions for estimating, CAD design, and fabrication. TSI s software and service offerings help MEP contractors bridge the gap between design and fabrication with fully-constructible 3D models containing real-world intelligent MEP components and ductwork. TSI s highly skilled Consulting Services provide tailored training, implementation and consulting services world-wide and customers cite increased profitability, productivity and consistency for their duct, pipe, plumbing and electrical services. TSI serves clients in the U.S., Europe, and Australasia. buildingsmart Kroea: Construction Management Association of Korea: Korea Architects Institute: Korea Mechanical Construction Contractors Association: Korea Specialty Contractors Association: Korean Structural Engineers Association: 57

60 O Design and Construction Intelligence SmartMarket Report Get smart about the latest industry trends. For more information on these reports and others, visit /market _ research SmartMarket Report Sustainable Construction Waste Management Creating Value in the Built Environment Produced with support from $189 FPO