LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM)

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to address the legal concerns of adopting BIM in practice and its legal impact to construction industry and also to review contract terms that will assist the implementation of BIM and discuss how BIM can be addressed contractually to create effective integrated process to its implementation. I conducted ten surveys and three interviews in order to reflect the current industry practice and their concerns on the use of BIM. The relative number of survey’s respondents specializing in the various roles and services that make up the process of design, construction and operation of buildings. Such broad involvement provides a balanced insight into all phases of the design and construction processes. Besides, project “Reflection at Keppel Bay” was studied to validate the application of integrated practice methodology and provide an illustration of the application of this systematic approach. All respondents believe that it is challenging to each stakeholder’s role and responsibilities to the respective construction agreements in term of design responsibility and ownership of the model. And they agree that BIM should be well-addressed in contract documents by having an addendum or particular conditions for BIM project like what has been done in Reflection Keppel Bay project. It is suggested to adopt Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) agreement as this innovative collaborative approach to design and construction fosters greater alignment of the interest of all project participants with the overall success of the project.