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1. Introduction
The sluggish adoption of new and advanced technologies in the construction industry is easily noticeable given the long-standing conventional methods of construction and its procurement. While it is common knowledge that the construction industry contributes considerably to the growth of the economy, it still faces several impediments which prevent a consistent positive outlook. Challenges such as: poor health, safety and well-being of construction workers; and project cost or time overruns remain commonplace. Moreover, often, it is considered that several layers of fragmentation in the construction industry for the most part lend themselves to slow progress in terms of modernisation, adoption and uptake of new advanced technologies and digitisation. However, in the USA, efforts towards improved uptake and attainment of digitisation have gained significant momentum (see Becerik-Gerber and Rice, 2010).
Indeed, most architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sectors still show signs of a slow uptake of new technologies towards improved project delivery. Even seminal reports published as far back as the 1990s revealed this trend. For example, the report by Sir Michael Latham (Latham, 1994) recommends improved cost reduction (p. 80), while Sir John Egan’s report (Egan, 1998) recommends a reduction in capital costs and construction time (p. 16). On the other hand, Wolstenholme (2009) identified four key blockers to progress, namely, business and economic models, capability, delivery model and industry structure (pp. 5-6). Wolstenholme’s report concludes that there is need for joined-up thinking between government and industry stakeholders; and a cohesive manner of working attained through proper industry leadership and uptake of business models that encourage integrated teams and processes, and less subcontracting. However, increasingly, studies show that BIM can play a significant role in this regard. For example, adopting a BIM-enabled procurement approach yields improved inter-organisational and inter-dependent working and easier team and process integration as explained by Fox and Hietanen (2007).
Despite notable progress in some areas of construction project delivery, it is no surprise that the industry is still making slow progress and often has a poor image and reputation because of accidents, injuries and illnesses (see Donaghy, 2009). Although it is outside the scope of this research to explore accident causation given that other researchers address this aspect thoroughly (e.g. Abdelhamid and Everett, 2000; Gibb et al., 2006;...