Adaptation of industry BIM process standards in a large construction firm

The United Kingdom (UK) construction industry is witnessing an increased uptake of Building Information Modelling (BIM) process standards. This research investigates how the adaptation of new industry BIM process standards influences the large construction firm's capacity to deliver projects and sustain competitive advantage. Previous studies have examined the roles of industry product and technical standards, and the standards within the firm, that are associated with innovation, but there is little work on industry BIM process standards. To understand this, the research develops a conceptual framework, building upon the work of Davies and Brady (2000) on project based firm (PBF) organisational capabilities. The empirical research focuses on the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 1192:2012 (1-3), which is a successor to British Standard (BS) 1192:2007, and the Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) standards. These industry BIM process standards were developed to facilitate, coordinate and control information management activities amongst project teams. Following a preliminary UK industry investigation, a case study strategy is adopted to understand the adaptation of BIM process standards in the large construction firm. Data is drawn from: a) observations of practice in three ongoing projects, b) semi-structured interviews, and c) secondary publications. Thematic data analysis shows that adaptation of the industry process standards transforms the firm's ability to manage, integrate and coordinate business and project processes such as bidding, design and project management. Adaptation stimulates new ways of collaborating design activities and transforms the firm's interactive relations with IT suppliers and standards developers. However, the standards are resisted within the business, and in the projects because they evolve outside the firm. Adaptation becomes unstable because the standards have systemic linkages, are rapidly changing and attract multiple interpretations. The study contributes to previous work by articulating how the adaptation of industry process standards contributes to the development of project capabilities by the large construction firm. The study identifies mediating complexities that require management attention such as the systemic linkages with other industry standards. This research focused on the single large construction firm, in future, research could assess the implications of the findings in the wider construction industry. Further research could address how other types of industry standards influence the ability to develop strategic and operational level capabilities within firms that produce the built environment.