Investigating the Barriers Involved in the Sustainable Implementation of LC and BIM Approaches in Qatar's Construction Industry

Abstract

The construction industry has never been as open to welcoming new ideas and strategies from other industries as it is now. Excessive waste in the three pillars of the construction industry, time, cost, and quality, led to adopting certain concepts tried and proven to work successfully in other sectors. Lean is one of such ideas that made its way to the construction industry after years of success in the manufacturing sector. Building Information Modelling (BIM), on the other hand, has been around for quite a while in the construction industry. Imagine how amazing it would be for the construction professionals and designers to live in what is yet to be constructed. BIM made it possible to foresee the future of the project. The question is not how successful these two strategies are, as this has already been proven through numerous studies, but how sustainable would that project be if both Lean and BIM are used concurrently. Qatar construction industry has embraced Lean and BIM concepts and Sustainability measures on its own, owing to a multitude of external and internal factors. Through a mixed-method approach of research strategy, an in-depth review of the literature helped explore the synergies between Lean Construction, BIM and Sustainability. However, the survey questionnaire and interviews led to identifying the two main barriers to implying Lean and BIM in Qatar's construction industry, "Culture and Attitude" and "Commitment & Support from Top Management". The survey results also indicated the interaction of Lean, BIM and Sustainability at different project stages and helped identify misunderstandings about Sustainability among the industry professionals. The proposed performance measurement strategy also received an overwhelming response.