The majority of the participants in this study mentioned that commission plans, building drawing and insurance, daily reports, equipment list, manufacturing products data, operations and maintenance, quality control documents are the most significant benefits for the project data at the handover stage (Figure 6.4). However, clients are looking for data continuity; capturing statistics data from projects is vital not only for large projects but also for smaller projects, including renovation projects, which are often numerous and need to be associated into the same maintenance system (Whyte et al., 2012).
156 Referring to the commission plan, it is considered as an arrangement made in which people are paid based on performance. Findings on this theme reveal that the commission plans are one of the most significant benefits for the project data at the handover stage. This agrees with the European Commission (2014), which indicated that commission plan developed framework consisting of core indicators, such as fundamental methods, is to be used to evaluate the environmental performance of buildings all over their lifecycle. Then the commission will invite stakeholders, for example public authorities, architects, investors, insurers, and contractors, to discuss issues related to objectives and indicators for assessing the buildings.
As mentioned above, building drawing and insurance is part of the significant project data at the handover stage, as it is a document that the contractor provides to the owner and acts as a proof of insurance coverage. This concurs with what was found by Bell et al. (2010); they approve that daily reports should be treated as the most significant document on a construction project, and should be used to write the daily work performed, workers on site, differing site conditions, problems faced, delays experienced, etc. Comprehensive daily reports provide an upper hand in a dispute, while poor daily reports are considered a disadvantage. Also, work equipment could be considered important data in handover. It should be maintained in a safe place and in good condition; where any machinery and tools has a maintenance record, the record is kept up to date and the maintenance operations on work equipment and tool can be carried out carefully and safely.
With regards to the operations and maintenance, findings from research participants concur with Fallon and Palmer’s (2007) views, where they mention that information requirements for the project operations and maintenance phase contain financial, legal, and physical aspects of the facility. Handlers of this information usually include operators (property managers and facility managers), vendors, owners, tenants and service providers. Moreover, the maintenance and operations phase generates its own information, which is used to increase facility performance data and inform decisions about expanding or stopping of the facility. This information includes maintenance
157 programmes, service requests, production or occupancy levels, inspection reports, work orders, equipment downtime, and operating and maintenance costs.
Other factors of importance at the handover stage according to respondents included Quality Control documents. Actually, the importance of this factor is behind its policies that are designed to record project activities on a daily basis. However, the elements of the quality control are a matter of judgment and influenced by numerous factors. According to Olin, (2009) the quality control documents include deviations from the required project material specifications, numbers of personnel, scheduled actions taken to correct the problems, types of tests performed and results of these testing, weather conditions, nature of defects or cause for rejection, delays encountered and health and safety issues, or deficiencies/shortages, and how they were determined and resolved. In terms of the quantitative results, the responses to this question of the importance of the project handover stage to the organisation were distributed almost equally between “very important” and “important”. However, the smallest percentage of the whole response was the options of “slightly important”, “least important” and others.
In relation to the operations and maintenance, and according to the question about what sort of services that their organisation performs, the majority of participant believe that their company performed preventive services, while some preformed predictive. However, few performed reactive. Hence, all the participants of this study believe in the importance of the project handover stage to the organisation. Figure 6.2 summarizes the important of the project data at the handover stage in the KSA public sector.
158
Figure 6.2: The important of the project data at the handover stage
6.6 Theme 3: BIM and Technology benefits
Building information modelling is more than simply software; it is a process that involves stakeholders that could be impacted by its utilization (Barlish and Sullivan, 2012). Findings of this theme reveal that the majority of participants were acquainted with the benefits and roles of BIM and technology. They mentioned the cost, time and effort, easy access to project data and updates, effective communication, improved integrated design process, increase speed, in management, and tracking of installation, testing and maintenance. However, some of the participants believed whose organisation had been using BIM believed that using technology plays an important role in improving building maintenance and reduces cost, time, effort and allows easy access to project data and updates, leading to improved quality of performance, help in data and information updated. In relation to Cost, Time and Effort, and according to Azhar (2011), at any phase of the project design, BIM technology and tools can cut an accurate bill of spaces and quantities that can be used for cost assessment. In the first stages of a project design, the estimates of cost are based primarily on the unit cost per square foot or meter. In the progression of the design progresses, new details are coming and can be
159 used for more precise cost estimates. Consequently, it is possible to make better design decisions regarding budgets using BIM, instead of a paper-based system. Likewise, Zuppa et al. (2009) confirmed about the finding of this research where, in their study, they found that BIM-based design and pre-fabrication could significantly reduce the project time, from project approval to facility completion. The component parametric nature of BIM makes design changes easier and the resulting updates of records automatic.
In the case of effective communication, the majority of respondents believe that BIM technology can play a role in improving the integrated design and communication in the KSA construction sector. This finding can be compared to Eastman et al. (2011), in a study of BIM implementation for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers, and Contractors, which indicated that for creating and editing a design and export of data in various formats to support integration with other applications and workflows by two approaches, the use of one software seller’s products or use software from various sellers that can exchange data using industry standards. The first approach allows for tighter integration among products in multiple directions. For instance, changes to the architectural model will generate changes to the structural model, and vice versa. However, this needs that all of design team to use software delivered from the same seller. The second approach uses either exclusive source or open source. This approach offers additional flexibility at the cost of interoperability, particularly if the various software programs used for a given project do not support the same exchange standards.
Concerning BIM and technology benefits in efficient project management, most of respondents think that BIM asset management and efficient project management improved integrated design process, as well as increasing speed and tracking of installation, testing and maintenance. This result conforms with Eastman et al., (2008) where they mention that the BIM supports monitoring of real-time control systems and offers a natural interface for sensors and remote operating management of facilities. However, lots of these capabilities have not developed, but BIM provides an excellent platform for their deployment.
160 Findings of quantitative data reveal that enhanced information, improve quality and client satisfaction and stakeholders’ influence are the most significant benefits of using BIM and technology, followed by improved asset management, then easy access to project data. Moreover, the participants mention to these benefits of BIM and technology: reduced labour, improved integrated design process, better tracking of installation, enhanced information, encourages the integration, easy access to project data, increased speed, efficient project management, improved asset management, effective communication, reduction in error, and improved quality and client satisfaction.
However, the quantitative findings about the possibility access to a number of important documents were different between yes and not from case to case. For example, the majority of the responded declare that access to the specifications, warranty information, spare parts data, equipment purchase dates, and emergency management plans was not easy. However, the majority of the responses declare that access to service contracts is easy. These results emphasise that the most important documents were not easy to access without using technology, such as BIM. In addition, it was found in the quantitative results that legislation and legal requirements are considered as a significant benefit of BIM technology and processes.
Although BIM is not currently a legal requirement for KSA construction industries, this benefit can accrue in the future if the government of KSA enacted legislation regarding BIM in working process in most public sector contracts. Setting out the legal issues in the adoption of BIM will ensure that the industry can collaborate without the worry of adverse legal consequences. However, the quantitative results specified that the period of time that organisations in the KSA had been using BIM from 1 to 2 years and they were only a few companies; the majority of the respondents answered that their companies had not used BIM at all. These results indicate that the application of BIM technology in the Saudi companies did not exceed 2 years.
From another point of view, the quantitative consequences refer to the moral and ethical obligation as important benefits of BIM and technology. Vee and Skitmore (2003) found in a study about ethics in the construction industry that there is some degree of unethical conduct, in the form of unfair demeanour, negligence, carelessness, conflict of interest,
161 collusive tendering, fraud, confidentiality and propriety breach, corruption, and damage of environment. The construction sector should implicate their moral commitments with the project stakeholders and agree in the results how it can influence the business case and consider good ethical practice to be an important organisational goal. Business ethics should be driven or governed by personal ethics. A balance of both the requirements of the client and the impact on the public should be maintained. Figure 6.3 shows the most important benefits of the BIM and Technology at the handover stage in the KSA public sector.
Figure 6.3: Benefits of the BIM and Technology at the handover stage in the KSA public sector.