BIM perspective: the European context

Find out our experts’ views about BIM adoption and implementation in Europe.

Europe is one of the continents that has demonstrated fast developments in BIM adoption and implementation.

One of the drivers for change is the EU directive to enforce the adoption and implementation of BIM in public construction projects in the 28 EU member states. The European Union Public Procurement Directive (EUPPD) is a mandatory directive in use.

So far, the UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and Norway are among a few countries that have set mandatory requirements for BIM adoption in state procurement processes.

In the video, our experienced BIM practitioners provide their perspectives:

• Nohman Awan talks about how difficult it is to work with experts from a wide range of countries in Europe where signing of BIM contracts is concerned, using his experience on the Midlands Metropolitan Hospital

• Nada Milivojevic, whose background is in architecture and project management, highlights her observations of BIM developments in non-EU and EU countries such as Serbia and Italy respectively. She also discusses the mandated use of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), a media platform for sharing BIM data, across the Nordic countries

• Simon Graham explains how his organisation incorporates BIM level 2 in projects and discusses problems in the adoption of BIM

Contractors and consultants (architects and engineers, for instance) have been using BIM for a while. Problems can be seen when engaging other supply chains, particularly small businesses. Similarly, operation and facility management teams appear not to be ready to engage themselves in BIM processes.

Despite this, most European countries are planning to move towards higher levels of BIM. For example, the UK is moving on to adopt BIM level 3 soon, but the definition is yet to be clarified and there may be technical barriers to overcome.

Your task

The main themes discussed here include the variation of standards used in different countries within the same region, the challenges faced by BIM experts to coordinate or implement BIM, and the foreseeable problems in new dimensions of BIM levels in the UK.

What could be other issues regarding BIM development, adoption and implementation in your region?