Track: Sustainability and Green Systems

Abstract

The construction sector encounters significant obstacles in its shift to sustainable practices and the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) technologies. In the context of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has made significant efforts to integrate BIM into sustainable construction, which is utilized to advance procedures and has gotten extensive action in the literature worldwide. However, some cases in the UAE have taken advantage of this essential synergy between BIM and sustainable practices, while many others have remained on the sidelines, unable to realize the potential of BIM in sustainable initiatives fully. This paper aims to investigate the challenges and barriers faced in integrating BIM and sustainable practice in the UAE construction industry. An extensive literature review is conducted to define the main barriers that are used in designing the survey. The survey was distributed among different parties in the UAE construction industry. After data collection, data analysis took place using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) technique. Statistical tests were exploited for data analysis and used to elaborate and validate results. This kind of analysis study has been conducted in other developed countries like UK and USA; however, no such study has been done in UAE. The findings revealed that technological and financial factors are the main barriers to implementing BIM in the UAE. The research findings and suggested mitigation plan will facilitate the BIM adoption and integration in sustainable construction projects, allowing decision-makers to address the critical problems and barriers outlined in this study. The construction sector encounters significant obstacles in its shift to sustainable practices and the adoption of building information modeling (BIM) technologies. In the context of the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates has made significant efforts to integrate BIM into sustainable construction, which is utilized to advance procedures and has gotten extensive action in the literature worldwide. However, some cases in the UAE have taken advantage of this essential synergy between BIM and sustainable practices, while many others have remained on the sidelines, unable to realize the potential of BIM in sustainable initiatives fully. This paper aims to investigate the challenges and barriers faced in integrating BIM and sustainable practice in the UAE construction industry. An extensive literature review is conducted to define the main barriers that are used in designing the survey. The survey was distributed among different parties in the UAE construction industry. After data collection, data analysis took place using the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) technique. Statistical tests were exploited for data analysis and used to elaborate and validate results. This kind of analysis study has been conducted in other developed countries like UK and USA; however, no such study has been done in UAE. The findings revealed that technological and financial factors are the main barriers to implementing BIM in the UAE. The research findings and suggested mitigation plan will facilitate the BIM adoption and integration in sustainable construction projects, allowing decision-makers to address the critical problems and barriers outlined in this study.