The Status of the Implementation of the Building Information Modeling Mandate in Poland: A Literature Review

Abstract

BIM is being strongly implemented in design companies. General contractors are using it during investment projects, and boards are using it for the maintenance and operation of buildings or infrastructure. Without the so-called BIM mandate (mandatory in public procurement), this is hard to imagine, even though it has already been implemented in many countries. In Poland, work in this direction is still being carried out. Due to the high complexity of investment and construction processes, the multiplicity of stakeholder groups, and conflicting interests, work on BIM adoption at the national level is hampered. The paper conducts an in-depth literature review of BIM implementation in Poland and presents a critical analysis of the current state of work. As a result of the literature research, proposals for changes in the processes of implementing the BIM mandate in Poland were formulated. This paper presents an excerpt from a potential BIM strategy and the necessary steps on the road to making BIM use mandatory. The results of the study indicate strong grassroots activity conducted by NGOs, which, independent of government actions, lead to measurable results. The authors propose that these activities must be coordinated by a single leading entity at the government level. The study could influence decisions made in other countries in the region or with similar levels of BIM adoption. BIM is the basis of the idea of the digital twin, and its implementation is necessary to achieve the goals of the doctrine of sustainable development and circular economy.

1. Introduction

In the era of the fourth industrial revolution, commonly referred to as “Industry 4.0”, the construction industry is heavily influenced by digitization, automation, or robotization [1]. These changes are making Building Information Modeling (BIM) a major focus of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) in recent years [2]. Construction data relevant to the life cycle of a building is produced, recorded, processed, managed, exchanged, and archived through open communication between the parties involved: principal, contractor and suppliers, and users [3]. Just as GIS (Geospatial Information Systems) has transformed urban planning and decision-making processes, BIM is changing the design and management of construction facilities. Digitization is becoming the hottest topic in investment and construction processes [4,5,6]. In particular, the implementation of digital BIM methodology is fundamentally changing collaboration on construction projects and in the asset lifecycle. Many countries have introduced a BIM mandate: the mandatory use of BIM in publicly funded procurement. BIM has been used in the UK (United Kingdom) since April 2016, and Level 2 maturity is mandatory for all public projects [7]. In Germany, BIM has been mandatory for public projects worth more than EUR 100 million since January 2017, and for all infrastructure projects from 2020. In France, BIM is being gradually implemented as part of the Digital Transformation Plan for Construction. In Spain, BIM is mandatory for public projects worth more than EUR 2 million as of 2018. In Russia, the use of BIM has been mandatory for government projects since 2022, and the country has 15 national standards related to BIM. In Australia, BIM has been mandatory for all large government-funded infrastructure projects since 2016. In Singapore, BIM has been mandatory for all public projects larger than 5000 sq m since 2015, according to the Building and Construction Agency (BCA). Scandinavian countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden) have mandatory BIM requirements for public projects and are leading regions in terms of BIM use. In China, BIM is promoted by the Ministry of Construction and Urban and Rural Development. In contrast, BIM adoption has been much slower in Central and Eastern European countries [8]. The Czech Republic is implementing BIM as a mandatory element in public projects as part of a larger strategy to modernize the construction sector. This implementation is supported by government initiatives and cooperation with the private sector [9]. Similarly, Hungary is working to make the use of BIM mandatory in public projects [10]. The goal is to improve the efficiency and transparency of construction processes and increase innovation in the construction sector. As of 2019, in Italy, the BIM mandate is present in public investments above EUR 100 million, and the limit is reduced every year [11]. Poland is implementing BIM in public construction projects to demonstrate the benefits and collect data on best practices. The Polish Ministry of Development and Technology has established a BIM Working Group. However, despite these efforts, there is still no government decision on the mandatory use of BIM. Research and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis shows that BIM implementation in Poland currently has a favorable position in the market, based on the advantage of strengths over weaknesses and opportunities over threats. However, it is difficult to count on rapid dynamics of change in Poland in the implementation of BIM in the construction industry [12]. On the other hand, scientific research presents a few limitations and challenges that need to be overcome for BIM to become widespread in Poland [13]. Similar studies have been conducted in other countries [14,15,16,17]. Hence, the purpose of this article was to look at the bottom-up and top-down actions taken towards BIM adoption in Polish realities. Bottom-up activities surveyed were mainly carried out by organizations and institutions unrelated to the government or local government, while top-down activities were carried out on the initiative of ministries or bodies subordinate to them. The in-depth literature review included an extensive search of normative and gray literature, as well as reports. This paper contributes to the discussion on BIM implementation not only at the national level but also at the enterprise level. This work also critically analyzes what has been done so far, and some insights are speculative but compel in-depth reflection.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. An In-Depth Study of the Literature

The main scientific method in the study was a literature review. It covered a variety of sources: policy documents (acts, regulations), normative literature (from Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases), Polish-language literature (from academic and professional journals), and gray literature (from unpublished theses, preprints, or dissertations). Thanks to such a broad review, it was possible to identify problems and limitations of BIM implementation in Polish realities (Figure 1). The literature was reviewed from 2009 when the first scientific and popular science publications about BIM in Poland appeared.

From a procurement perspective, it was extremely important to identify NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) involved in the popularization of BIM, key dates, or important changes in the law. Hence, searches and queries in databases and search engines focused on finding these relevant data. Thus, it was not a systematic analysis but an in-depth search for sources of problems and risks, followed by proposals for change and mitigating actions.

2.2. Organizations Involved with BIM

A critical layer of BIM adoption in the Polish construction sector is public investment. Construction investments can be for volume or infrastructure facilities, the latter of which is dominated by the public procurer [18]. Polish public construction investments include all civil construction activities in Poland and state facilities abroad. The Ministry of Development and Technology, specifically the Department of Construction and Architecture, is the department of the Polish government responsible for construction and construction administration. At the same time, it is the highest technical authority for all civil construction matters, assisted by other central offices: the General Office of Construction Supervision, Public Procurement Office, Architectural and Construction Administration, General Office of Geodesy and Cartography, General Directorate of National Roads and Highways, Railway Transport Office, and subordinate to the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Polish Committee for Standardization. Planning and implementation of public construction tasks, as well as their technical management, use and maintenance, are carried out by the Government of the Republic of Poland, provincial offices, and local government institutions of cities and counties. The construction administration of the Ministry of Development and Technology and the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Departments of Infrastructure and Agriculture, and the Departments of Construction and Architecture are in close contact with the agencies that finance and implement local government investment projects, and hand them over for use to the beneficiary organizations.

The essential document that forms the core and basis of any BIM mandate is usually a government strategy [19,20,21]. In many countries, it formed the basis for the effective implementation of BIM in public investment, which then also translated into widespread use in private procurement. Currently in Poland, the BIM implementation strategy is being prepared by the BIM Working Group under the Ministry of Development and Technology. The BIM Strategy for Polish Public Investment is a document that will form the basis for the introduction and implementation of the BIM methodology for civil and military construction. The document will describe the required target state to be achieved for public investment in Poland by 2030. The Ministry of Development and Technology (in coordination with the Ministry of Defense in the case of military construction tasks) and the agencies implementing the projects are responsible for creating the overarching preconditions and framework conditions. However, the strategy is not the only key action on the road to implementing the BIM mandate [22]. It must be accompanied by a series of downstream and supporting documents (manuals, good practice handbook, standards) and activities (building a national BIM repository, BIM education and promotion) [23]. Many of these activities are performed from the bottom up by the BIM community companies, NGOs, researchers, or enthusiasts.

2.3. Strategic, Normative, and Grey Literature Review

In the first decade of the 20th century, various associations of the AEC sector were constituted. Trade unions and associations were formed, which improved the operation of architectural and construction administration. In 2000, the Polish Chamber of Civil Engineers was established; in 2001, the Polish Union of Construction Engineers and Technicians; and in 2002, the Chamber of Architects of the Republic of Poland and the Association of Architects of the Republic of Poland. In 2004, the Polish Construction Cluster (formerly the Eastern Construction Cluster) and the Polish Association of Construction Employers were established. During this period, GIS technology, which supports spatial planning processes, develops strongly. At present, GIS in Poland is already widespread with the mandatory GML (Geography Markup Language) standard, as opposed to BIM. At the beginning of the second decade of the 20th century, the first scientific articles on the use of BIM—the advantages and benefits that this technology brings—appeared in Poland [24,25,26,27]. Companies began to switch from CAD2D solutions to CAD3D or BIM. Design studios were eager to adapt applications like Autodesk Revit, Graphisoft Archicad, etc., in their daily work. General contractors followed suit, implementing BIM during project execution, mainly in the context of preliminaries, cost estimates, or schedules. Here, BIM yields undeniable evidence of efficiency, and these advantages have been repeatedly raised [28,29]. Anglo-Saxon countries have the implementation of the BIM mandate behind them, hence the European Parliament and Council Directive on public procurement 2014/24/EU, and in Polish legislation in 2014 on the use of electronic construction data modeling tools being allowed. Around this time, the BIM mandate and the widespread implementation of BIM in Polish organizations began to be talked about. This moment can be considered the beginning of the road to the BIM mandate (Figure 2). The year 2015 saw the formation and activities of the V4 BIM Task Force on BIM Education. In 2016, another organization, the European Center for BIM Certification, the third after the BIM Cluster and the BIM Association, was established. Shortly thereafter, the Polish branch of buildingSMART was established (2017). In 2018, the first pilot projects on the use of BIM began and the “BIM Standard PL” organization was launched to develop BIM standards. In 2019, the government project “Digitization of the construction process in Poland” began, and in 2020, a roadmap for BIM implementation in Poland appeared, with prospective dates for BIM’s obligatory use—2025 and 2030. In 2021, BIM templates and standards for roads were published, and in 2022, the BIM Working Group began its activity. The aftermath of its activity included, for example, the CCI-PL classification or the BIM strategy report to be submitted to the relevant Minister of Development and Technology. The activities of the BIM Working Group were judged differently, conflicts and antagonisms arose within the group itself, and its continued operation was in question. Undoubtedly, such situations did not bring Poland closer to the BIM mandate.

A lot has happened during the presented 10-year history of BIM development in Poland, and if it were not for grassroots activities, it could have looked very different. Hence, the activities of NGOs and researchers that make the implementation of BIM more effective regardless of top-down actions (or rather, the lack of them) are worth bringing up. Top-down activities carried out by the government and/or local government are often interrupted or postponed due to the dynamics of change and replacement of personnel in government and local government structures. Nevertheless, it is important to focus on elements in the strategy that could be shared by the public and private sectors.

2.4. BIM Development Efforts to Date

The first NGO working on BIM was the BIM Cluster (Figure 3). It was established in 2012 based on the initiative of several companies from the Małopolska voivodship. The group of initiators of the venture were people with strong ties to the construction, IT, and information technology industries. Currently, the BIM Cluster functions as an officially registered association of pro-innovative and highly specialized micro, small, medium, and large enterprises from all over Poland operating in the construction and ICT industry, as well as public institutions from the business and scientific community supporting entrepreneurship and innovation in the Polish economy. In 2014, the “BIM Association for the Polish construction industry” (now the BIM Association) was established, which brings together experts and practitioners from the AEC market. Among the experts are scientists, innovators, modern technology enthusiasts, and academics. The association pursues its statutory goals of disseminating and promoting BIM in Poland. Two years later, because of some “spin-off,” the European BIM Certification Center was established. The organization is firmly committed to BIM education, making procurers aware and promoting BIM as widely as possible. In 2017, the Polish branch of buildingSMART was established, which began to make a strong impact on the market, promoting the idea of openBIM and disseminating open standards [30]. In turn, the organization BIM Standard PL in 2018 began with the signing of a declaration of cooperation between the Polish Association of Construction Engineers and Technicians, the Polish Association of Construction Employers, the Association of Architects of the Republic of Poland, and the companies Budimex, Skanska, Warbud, and PORR to develop a draft BIM standard for public investment in construction. The project was divided into two stages: I-standards and II-derivative documents. Funds were raised, a competent team of experts was appointed, and the work of stage I covering volume construction as completed and published in 2020. Although not updated, they are losing their value and even have their critics [31]. The BIM Standard PL organization is currently dormant, and without funding it is unlikely to persist. In parallel, book items in textbooks were published by the PWN publishing house, including “BIM for Managers” [32] and “BIM in the Life Cycle of Bridges” [33]. These items were intended to support the implementation process by popularizing and systematizing knowledge about BIM.

More than a dozen publicly funded BIM pilot projects have been carried out in Poland to date. Positive and measurable benefits have been achieved in many of them (e.g., infrastructure projects by PKP PLK S.A., design and construction of the Zator bypass, a power infrastructure project by PSE S.A.). In both cubic and infrastructural investments, a few values of using BIM are seen—most importantly, strengthening cooperation and improving communication between stakeholders. Recent publications confirm that integration of BIM with GIS improves interoperability [34] and open standards improve collaboration [35], and yet barriers to BIM implementation in Polish companies are still identified [36].

Several grassroots activities led by these organizations have contributed to the spread of BIM in Poland, at least at the enterprise level. At the national level, the lack of understanding among those in power about the relevance of BIM to the construction sector is causing a significant standstill on the road to a BIM mandate. For this reason, an attempt has been made to raise the relevancy of BIM strategies and related activities. Without clear and decisive action, BIM will continue to be merely an innovative technology that can be used on an optional basis. And without a BIM mandate, it is difficult to raise the efficiency and productivity curve of the construction sector, which is, after all, a very important branch of Poland’s national economy.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Strategy for Implementing the BIM Mandate

Defining roles and responsibilities is an essential part of successful BIM implementation and BIM strategy [37]. Project-specific BIM roles for public investment have been formulated based on guidelines from foreign documents, standards and good practices [38,39,40]. This plan describes the goals and strategy for implementing BIM methodology for public buildings. With the introduction of a similar plan, the necessary process of change towards a digital way of working using digital building models and building information at all stages of the life cycle of public investments is initiated and consolidated with ambitious time targets. The BIM Strategy for Public Investment will be the basis for concretizing activities in the public sphere, including BIM education. The deadlines given in the 2020 roadmap for BIM mandatory, 2025 for large public investments over €10 million, and 2030 for all public investments, seem untenable. A realistic deadline is 2035, if decisions are made already, so to speak (Figure 4). The continued uncertainty and lack of government decisions on the BIM mandate in the construction sector is causing concern not only among businesses, but also public procurers.

The strategy should not only include templates for strategic documents (EIR, BEP, etc.) and refer to known standards (ISO 19650) [41] but, most importantly, identify roles and responsibilities in the BIM process so that the company could reorganize its daily work based on good practices. Such a manual of good practices would be the basis for disseminating some knowledge about BIM. However, it must be constantly updated by domain experts, as is the case in countries maturely using BIM, e.g., the UK.

3.2. Roles in the BIM Process

The following description of BIM roles is based on a variant of full planning commissioned to contractors for independent functions in architecture and construction. The BIM roles are to be transferred to all public investments, regardless of the project-specific planning option. All roles can be equally filled by construction administration staff or independent contractors. The client or public procurer is the owner, person, or organization that uses and maintains a public building facility. On the client (public procurer) side is the BIM Manager, who represents the client’s interests and requirements. He brings together information requirements from all phases of the life cycle, develops the organization’s information requirements (OIRs) based on them, and checks the created BIM models for quality assurance on the client side. The role of the BIM manager is assumed by the construction administration but can also be assigned to independent contractors on a case-by-case basis. On the enterprise side, too, there may be a BIM manager. This is abovementioned local’s project contact person, project leader and coordination meetings. The BIM coordinator is generally a lower-level person, the creator of the BIM Execution Plan (BEP), the organizer of the project and industry cooperation. The BIM coordinator is often responsible for the industry information model and keeps an eye on the “model makers”. The primary BIM coordinator is on the contractor’s side. They coordinate and define the operational implementation of BIM technology across all trades. They are also responsible for ensuring that the contractually agreed-upon quality of information models is maintained. The main BIM coordinator is appointed by the general contractor. Coordinators for individual trades are appointed by subcontractors using BIM. They cooperate with the main BIM coordinator. BIM coordinators are responsible for creating and complying with the IT requirements of the integrated asset and design model and the technical component models of the individual trades. BIM model developers, both on the principal and the contractor side, digitally model the relevant specific component or specialized model, with components and building elements with the details specified in the information requirements (OIR, AIR, PIR, EIR). They are responsible for creating BIM-compliant building models at the specified level of BIM development and with the desired level of information. BIM users can be found on both the principal and contractor sides. They use BIM to make individual use of the building object information stored in the model. BIM users are project parties, those responsible for measurement or levels of technical supervision who use the models for testing or evaluation purposes. Additional planning engineers, technical specialists, and quality inspectors on the client’s or contractor’s side may also be BIM users if they use the data for verification or simulation, for example. Once construction is handed over for use with a database of building information to the property’s intended users, as BIM users they will also continue to use this information in the life cycle through computer-aided property management tools. In addition to the BIM roles in public investment, public sector-specific BIM roles at the levels of construction supervision and technical construction administration are also being established. Those performing the main BIM roles on the project side exchange information with the BIM organizational unit in the national offices, transmit information from their organization in accordance with the provisions of ISO 19650, and provide support during the first stages of BIM pilot projects. They do not have a direct role outside the project, but serves as a local contact, support, and advisor.

3.3. Necessary Activities in Various Spheres

As a result of the literature review and the current state of the art, three fundamental top-down and three principled bottom-up actions were identified that must be taken to implement the BIM mandate in Poland (Figure 5). The effectiveness of this pull-push approach was proven in the UK experience [42]. The top-down action should start with a decision at the government level to apply mandatory BIM standards in Polish public procurement. Widespread availability of the CCI-PL construction classification compliant with the BIM methodology will enable effective communication of industries in the investment and construction processes and accelerate their implementation. The standards and classification should be complemented by a manual of good practices, supporting companies that mature in BIM [43]. Ongoing grassroots efforts should continue with a focus on continued awareness of public procurers in the use of BIM. Formal forms of education such as studies should be supported by non-formal forms of education, i.e., training, courses, webinars, podcasts, blogs, or instructional videos. A broad knowledge base should be deposited, preferably in a national BIM repository, like the UK [44] or Czech Republic solution. Continuous implementation in enterprises requires BIM staff, experts, and trainers, which are in short supply in the market. Thus, it is essential to promote BIM broadly to allow for the potential interest of a wider audience and to educate cadres to feed the digital branch of the construction sector.

There is no point in reinventing the wheel when many countries are sharing their experiences in implementing the BIM mandate [45,46]. It is important to take advantage of these good models, without constantly rethinking and conducting pilots. The latter have already been conducted by the hundreds, and the proficiency of BIM has been proven time and again. There is a critical need for a government-level decision to make BIM mandatory in Polish public procurement. This decision should be accompanied by other actions, which the authors propose below.

3.4. Proposals

The ball is in the government’s court. Without a bold decision, there is no question of next steps (Figure 6). However, if the government of the Republic of Poland decides to BIM mandate, it should start with changes in the law. The changes will affect a few laws and executive orders, starting with the Public Procurement Law, Construction Law, Copyright Law, Civil Law, and a series of executive orders to be drafted in connection with the application of the standards. In requiring public procurers and companies that will be contractors to use BIM, they should be adequately supported. Financial support is key here, as the cost of hardware, software, training, audits, and development is still a barrier for many companies [47]. BIM experts stress that this should be directed through an official funding channel, such as from a selected priority axis from EU funds. The effects of implementations should be monitored, if only by measuring the effectiveness of design before and after BIM use [48]. Just as continuous improvement is assumed in the Lean methodology, with implementation it should be constantly tracked and processes improved. Without continuous improvement, there can be no savings in tangible and intangible resources. And that, after all, is the key to the ambitious goals of the circular economy [49].

The activities must be coordinated by a single entity, preferably at the government level (Figure 7). Now, BIM activities are being carried out in many different ministries, and this does not facilitate coordination or produce synergistic results. One special cell (organizational unit) responsible for overseeing the application of the BIM mandate could coordinate work at multiple levels: government, local government, private, and public benefit. First and foremost, such a unit must coordinate work related to BIM standards for buildings and so-called benchmarks and standards for infrastructure. Such benchmarks and standards do not replace or compete with Polish standards. Instead, they are an addition to the body of technical knowledge, particularly in areas not yet covered by standardization. Unlike Polish standards, access to patterns and standards is free of charge. The minister responsible for transport is responsible for the standards and benchmarks, while the national standards body responsible for the development and distribution of Polish standards is the Polish Committee for Standardization, independent of the minister responsible for transport. As in the case of standards and benchmarks, the use of Polish standards is voluntary, unless such an obligation has been imposed by the standard’s citation in legislation. In addition to this, activities must include the other ministries involved: science and higher education, the General Office of Geodesy and Cartography, or development and technology. The latter, for the moment, plays a leading role in the implementation of BIM. In the case of ministries related to education, it seems necessary to develop a common framework for studying the maturity of companies and organizations using BIM. It should be discussed whether certification of BIM professions should be handled by a nationally independent body or whether to free up access to certification, with appropriate accreditation while maintaining quality. However, we recommend that a separate unit be established to coordinate all activities in all involved units. At the same time, we point out that the experience of NGOs, scientists, and local government officials should be used, and they should be actively involved in the implementation work of the BIM mandate. There should be a continuous exchange of information between the two spheres—governmental and non-governmental.

The Ministry of Science and Higher Education should be provided with detailed guidelines as to what content should be required in the educational processes of various courses of study related to the construction sector [50,51]. However, teaching methodologies should also be kept in mind, as teaching BIM is specific and difficult [50,52,53]. Hence the level of process should be as important as the level of content [54]. BIM education should adapt teaching innovations in both technical and management aspects of BIM, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration to reduce fragmentation between AEC disciplines [55]. Lower-level entities such as the General Directorate of Highways and Motorways or the Office of Construction Supervision should be just as strongly involved in requiring contractors to use BIM, based on and within the limits of previously enacted laws, of course.

It is important to keep in mind the factors that can hinder or limit the implementation of the BIM mandate in Poland. Typically, the primary problem is funding. Without a significant stream of funds going directly to businesses, it is difficult to imagine achieving the goals. Without strong promotion (through various channels) of the BIM methodology, it will be difficult to convince the unconvinced. Only a coherent policy together with an official government strategy with the participation of NGOs is able to effectively exploit the opportunities offered by BIM.

4. Conclusions

BIM is the cornerstone of the digitization of the construction sector in Poland. The milestones and important events mentioned in this article indicate a further direction and determine further actions. The top-down and bottom-up activities presented in this paper should be continued with even greater force and consistency. The single coordinating entity for BIM mandate work proposed in this paper should be considered by the Polish government. The issue of BIM implementation should be one of the economic priorities of the government of the Republic of Poland, and its implementation must be carried out with iron consistency. The strategy should be adopted as soon as possible (2025–2026), and the adoption of BIM in the private sector should take place by 2035 at the most. Estimating the cost of adopting the suggested practices, incorporating potential deep regulatory changes is difficult to predict in terms of legislative and economic application, but there is no turning back from BIM. Without bold and quick decisions, Poland will continue to be uncompetitive with Anglo-Saxon countries and even with countries in the Central and Eastern European regions. It is necessary to take advantage of the British, German, or Czech experience in implementing the BIM mandate, instead of constantly checking or looking for solutions. A critical analysis of what has been achieved so far leads to the reflection that without hard top-down decisions, bottom-up actions cannot achieve satisfactory results. The Polish BIM market is still fragmented, and the interests of various parties’ clash. Compared to other countries in the region (e.g., the Czech Republic), the prospect for a BIM mandate in Poland is in a more difficult position, due to constant changes in government structures, divisions in ministries, or antagonisms between politicians. BIM education at the university level must change to keep up with the changing construction industry market. Numerous activities disseminating declarative knowledge should be deposited in an official nationwide repository, procedural knowledge should be disseminated using various communication channels (social media, journals, etc.), and anticipatory attitudes should be enforced in the labor market. Without strong BIM in government organizations, NGOs, and universities, there can be no strong digitization of the construction sector, which is already the last un-digitized sector of the industry.