For more than two decades, BIM (building information modeling) has proliferated the headlines in the construction industry. If done right, the process can save both time and money on construction projects, and construction professionals are more often turning to it. But where exactly are we now with BIM? Let’s dig in.
Allied Market Research suggests the global building information modeling market size was valued at $5.2 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach $15.8 billion by 2027, which is a 15.2% growth from during the time period. The key drivers for this process are the need for enhanced data communication and coordination among various stakeholders and the need for improved productivity. In some regions of the world, government mandates are fueling the market as well. Hurdles include high cost of the software, limited trained professionals, and the need for greater integration and greater bandwidth to manage the data.
The pandemic also had an interesting impact on the adoption of BIM. Let’s go back for a minute to 2019. At that time, the market was led by the solution segment. Many construction organizations started adopting these solutions to align all construction processes together such as procurement and data management, which improve the overall productivity of construction projects. Enter COVID-19, which enabled adoption of BIM to allow projects to continue to a virtual and digital environment even when participants were unable to meet in person.
For instance, when the lockdown measures were announced in response to the virus outbreak, Cox Architecture, an architectural practice in Australia, quickly enabled its staff to work from home by providing VPN access to its Autodesk AEC collections. In addition, it increased its investment in BIM360 design for cloud-enabled Revit work sharing.
Fortune Business Insights agrees with this assessment that the adoption of remote working should lead to the boost in demand for BIM. However, there is a catch. The construction industry saw many disturbances during the lockdown in manpower, material, plants, machinery, and construction projects. Also, the increasing cost of construction, as well as professional and skilled labor fees, are stalled BIM growth a bit.
Still, during the pandemic, many contractors still turned to technology. For instance, Barton Malow collaborated with Trimble, intending to double the construction efficiency by 2024. The company’s aim is to achieve everyday workflow, operational safety, productivity, and quality by integrating the software.
Going forward, the services segment is expected to witness highest growth, as over past few years, there has been an increase in the adoption of services among end users, as they ensure effective functioning of BIM software and platforms, according to Allied Market Research. Furthermore, there is also a surge in demand for cloud-based building information modeling services.
Depending on deployment mode, the on-premise segment dominated the building information modeling market share in 2019 and is expected to continue this trend during the forecast period. The growth of the segment is attributed to rise in concerns about security of data associated with construction projects. However, the cloud segment is expected to witness highest growth in the upcoming years, as the cloud-based building information modeling solution does not involve capital cost as well as is low in maintenance requirements, and hence can be most preferred by mid-sized institutions.
If you offer solutions to enable the BIM process, we want to hear about it! Consider entering it for the Constructech Top Products award. The deadline is very soon.
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