BIM's Seven Deadly Sins

This paper aims at exposing seven prevailing problems that have emerged in the uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in design practice. The paper provides a reality check between an idealistic view on BIM and the way it is currently applied in daily use. In order to reflect on the issues at hand, the author draws from three years of doctoral research in multidisciplinary design collaboration, followed by more than two years experience as Design Technology director in a large scale architecture practice. In addition to the above, his current role as the chair of the BIM and IPD Steering Group of the Australian Institute of Architects and Consult Australia exposes the author to a broad range of cultural implications of BIM. The findings presented here illustrate that, despite major advances in the development of BIM, there are predominantly cultural roadblocks to its implementation in practice.