Why it is impossible to get big data due to BIM technologies

Currently, the data which conventionally counts as big data in construction is used to address the simplest challenges, e.g. to find optimal design concepts of buildings for energy saving. To address this challenge, a database is compiled of data about the heating performance of walling and heating costs depending on the facility location region. Analysis of data regarding several thousand buildings enables to reveal the trends that can be used for the subsequent design of more energy-efficient facilities. The example provided exemplifies work with data based on two indicators. At the same time, each construction project is a great many thousands of various indicators and processes the idea of which is directly or indirectly determined by the project in the first place.

This sets construction data apart from data in other areas: relation to the objectives is determined by a special document – a facility construction project. For example, banking, commercial or service sector data has objective attributes and time parameters by default. Exemplifying the differences, one can draw an analogy with the payment for a cappuccino or a cinema ticket which includes the necessary completeness of information about the location and objectives. As for construction, the goals of transactions are inextricably linked to the possibility of further forecasting. It means that, without understanding the objectives, the value of data decreases significantly. Payment, e.g., for one tonne of broken stone does not provide any information about further objectives of this transaction. Broken stone can be used in many different ways at any time for various purposes. Thus, data without reference to a specific project is not exactly construction data. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that big data in construction includes not only data regarding immediate construction of facilities, but also everything related to operation, energy supply, subsequent repairs, and redevelopment, real estate services etc. Given the share of individuals’ housing costs and organisations’ commercial real estate costs, the costs directly or indirectly related to construction demonstrate that, among all big data, construction big data is the biggest. And for all its value, it is still not used to its full extent.

The main reasons why any construction data cannot be deemed big data.
1. Lack of uniform standardisation of construction data presentation
In the general case, data for an individual facility is developed on the basis of individual prerequisites, including those of probabilistic and subjective nature. On top of that, various software used to design a facility introduces uncertainty. This results in the total data set of two or more facilities not being fully comparable.
2. Data dispersion and unavailability
Each participant (subject) of construction, as with all other processes regarding facilities which are being constructed or are finished, is not only a source of data but also its owner in many respects. For each facility, the totality of relations to data will be individual.
3. Data loss
Data storage is not always provided as required after the relevant service is rendered. In most cases, access to construction data becomes impossible for third parties after a while.
4. Private and opaque data formats
The variety of software, primarily CAD, and its versions results in the corresponding variety of data formats. When converting files, data degradation is inevitable.
5. Data distortability
Various participants of a facility design, construction, and operation require various data to achieve the objectives of their operation. Taking into account construction opacity in general, construction subjects may interpret and distort it in the light of their own economic interests.

Generally speaking, the basic process for construction data generation is the process of designing a construction facility. Currently, the so-called BIM technology, whose objective is to provide all graphic elements of the facility model with specific attributes for their further use in preparation of estimates, is being implemented in design practice. The BIM technology does not address any other strategic objectives regarding the design process. All organisational relations have been preserved from the time of manual drawings. Thus, in fact, development of CAD in construction during the previous three decades was based on addressing the issue of simplifying cost estimate calculations in order to enable creation of various databases. However, this technology produces a contradiction: it does not permit to develop data which can be deemed big, and, at the same time, does not address any objectives for the purposes of the design itself. The project designer is paid for the development of disciplines of the construction project upon issuance of detailed design documentation as per schedule. BIM technology means modelling a facility (which is not equivalent to development of detailed design documentation) which necessitates additional investments in software and personnel. At the same time, the use of BIM technology increases the design time and prime cost. As for the financial result of the project designer’s work, it is determined by the speed and quality of the detailed-design documentation submitted for the construction and not by the quality of modelling and preparation of databases. In other words, the project designer is forced to additionally invest in and carry out the activities from whose results other entities earn. This contradiction explains the reason for such a complex, long, and largely unsuccessful introduction of BIM technologies in construction practice. In various countries, this contradiction is overcome by various methods at the national level. All of them actually imply coercion of the project designer by administrative and economic methods to perform the work useless for them.

If the attempt to introduce a new technology with the relevant applied tools into the practice of construction design in various countries for decades has not led to the desired result everywhere, it means that a common fundamental reason exists. The construction industry is one of the most conservative economic sectors which was shaped under the influence of a combination of limiting factors, including presence of construction standards as well as operation regulation at the local and national levels. Construction is a local industry, it is impossible to import construction facilities (such as engineering products, for example) to increase competition, which results in formation of local engineering traditions and relations which develop over generations. One can also assume that the above factors result in the fact that people, who can conventionally be attributed to traditionalists and conservatives, are employed in construction. For one thing, the career development of builders always occurs in the absence or insignificance of changes in the technological paradigm. As a result of the influence of all those factors, the construction industry is hardly susceptible to innovations.

Thus, BIM technologies are actually an attempt to additionally impose obligations for the benefit of third parties on construction subjects developed in the traditionalist paradigm under restrictions and regulation to the detriment of their own economic interests.

It is obvious that the current BIM technologies with use of the commercially available software conceptually contradict the nature of relations in construction, that is why a fundamentally different approach which would take into account the industry features is required to obtain the relevant big data.

Taking into account the above features, a solution which would meet the following requirements is required to compile databases based on the total of the construction data:
• a single aggregator throughout the entire data life cycle;
• all data is managed and accumulated on a centralised basis;
• data is consolidated by the efforts of and on the basis of the economic interest of construction subjects;
• to avoid loss and distortion, data is communicated  within the solution only without using third-party applications;
• the user influences data within the powers transparently determined for all project participants.

Based on the theoretical assumptions, the basis of such a solution can only be a solution for machine generation of detailed-design documentation which autonomously (without users’ involvement) creates all subsequently required models, including calculated and design ones, on the basis of an architectural model of the facility. The project owner configures the access rights of the users they require. All procedures and relations can copy the same in any particular country, all the way up through the financial ones among the construction participants, including after commissioning a piece of real estate. All actions with construction facilities at all stages of its life cycle are cloud-stored. As a result, the project owner buys a service which reduces their costs, and the owner of the cloud solution, in addition to monetization of their services, also gets access to the data of the total of the projects based on which big data can be generated.

Conclusion
Currently, data in the construction industry is dispersed among all construction subjects with it centralised processing being impossible. At the same time, the tools used for database compilation do not take into account the basis of relations in construction. Based on the industry features, collection and systematisation of data with the software offered in the market is impossible within the constraints of the current design technologies. No solution which collects all the necessary data which could be deemed big data is available in construction. This can only be cloud software, provided that its use will significantly reduce the costs of construction participants (designers and customers, in the first place) without conflicting with the established relations.


© Aleh Liashkevich, 2023
Director General
Institute BelNIIS RUE

23.08.2023

Currently, the data which conventionally counts as big data in construction is used to address the simplest challenges, e.g. to find optimal design concepts of buildings for energy saving. To address this challenge, a database is compiled of data about the heating performance of walling and heating costs depending on the facility location region. Analysis of data regarding several thousand buildings enables to reveal the trends that can be used for the subsequent design of more energy-efficient facilities. The example provided exemplifies work with data based on two indicators. At the same time, each construction project is a great many thousands of various indicators and processes the idea of which is directly or indirectly determined by the project in the first place.

This sets construction data apart from data in other areas: relation to the objectives is determined by a special document – a facility construction project. For example, banking, commercial or service sector data has objective attributes and time parameters by default. Exemplifying the differences, one can draw an analogy with the payment for a cappuccino or a cinema ticket which includes the necessary completeness of information about the location and objectives. As for construction, the goals of transactions are inextricably linked to the possibility of further forecasting. It means that, without understanding the objectives, the value of data decreases significantly. Payment, e.g., for one tonne of broken stone does not provide any information about further objectives of this transaction. Broken stone can be used in many different ways at any time for various purposes. Thus, data without reference to a specific project is not exactly construction data. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that big data in construction includes not only data regarding immediate construction of facilities, but also everything related to operation, energy supply, subsequent repairs, and redevelopment, real estate services etc. Given the share of individuals’ housing costs and organisations’ commercial real estate costs, the costs directly or indirectly related to construction demonstrate that, among all big data, construction big data is the biggest. And for all its value, it is still not used to its full extent.

The main reasons why any construction data cannot be deemed big data.
1. Lack of uniform standardisation of construction data presentation
In the general case, data for an individual facility is developed on the basis of individual prerequisites, including those of probabilistic and subjective nature. On top of that, various software used to design a facility introduces uncertainty. This results in the total data set of two or more facilities not being fully comparable.
2. Data dispersion and unavailability
Each participant (subject) of construction, as with all other processes regarding facilities which are being constructed or are finished, is not only a source of data but also its owner in many respects. For each facility, the totality of relations to data will be individual.
3. Data loss
Data storage is not always provided as required after the relevant service is rendered. In most cases, access to construction data becomes impossible for third parties after a while.
4. Private and opaque data formats
The variety of software, primarily CAD, and its versions results in the corresponding variety of data formats. When converting files, data degradation is inevitable.
5. Data distortability
Various participants of a facility design, construction, and operation require various data to achieve the objectives of their operation. Taking into account construction opacity in general, construction subjects may interpret and distort it in the light of their own economic interests.

Generally speaking, the basic process for construction data generation is the process of designing a construction facility. Currently, the so-called BIM technology, whose objective is to provide all graphic elements of the facility model with specific attributes for their further use in preparation of estimates, is being implemented in design practice. The BIM technology does not address any other strategic objectives regarding the design process. All organisational relations have been preserved from the time of manual drawings. Thus, in fact, development of CAD in construction during the previous three decades was based on addressing the issue of simplifying cost estimate calculations in order to enable creation of various databases. However, this technology produces a contradiction: it does not permit to develop data which can be deemed big, and, at the same time, does not address any objectives for the purposes of the design itself. The project designer is paid for the development of disciplines of the construction project upon issuance of detailed design documentation as per schedule. BIM technology means modelling a facility (which is not equivalent to development of detailed design documentation) which necessitates additional investments in software and personnel. At the same time, the use of BIM technology increases the design time and prime cost. As for the financial result of the project designer’s work, it is determined by the speed and quality of the detailed-design documentation submitted for the construction and not by the quality of modelling and preparation of databases. In other words, the project designer is forced to additionally invest in and carry out the activities from whose results other entities earn. This contradiction explains the reason for such a complex, long, and largely unsuccessful introduction of BIM technologies in construction practice. In various countries, this contradiction is overcome by various methods at the national level. All of them actually imply coercion of the project designer by administrative and economic methods to perform the work useless for them.

If the attempt to introduce a new technology with the relevant applied tools into the practice of construction design in various countries for decades has not led to the desired result everywhere, it means that a common fundamental reason exists. The construction industry is one of the most conservative economic sectors which was shaped under the influence of a combination of limiting factors, including presence of construction standards as well as operation regulation at the local and national levels. Construction is a local industry, it is impossible to import construction facilities (such as engineering products, for example) to increase competition, which results in formation of local engineering traditions and relations which develop over generations. One can also assume that the above factors result in the fact that people, who can conventionally be attributed to traditionalists and conservatives, are employed in construction. For one thing, the career development of builders always occurs in the absence or insignificance of changes in the technological paradigm. As a result of the influence of all those factors, the construction industry is hardly susceptible to innovations.

Thus, BIM technologies are actually an attempt to additionally impose obligations for the benefit of third parties on construction subjects developed in the traditionalist paradigm under restrictions and regulation to the detriment of their own economic interests.

It is obvious that the current BIM technologies with use of the commercially available software conceptually contradict the nature of relations in construction, that is why a fundamentally different approach which would take into account the industry features is required to obtain the relevant big data.

Taking into account the above features, a solution which would meet the following requirements is required to compile databases based on the total of the construction data:
• a single aggregator throughout the entire data life cycle;
• all data is managed and accumulated on a centralised basis;
• data is consolidated by the efforts of and on the basis of the economic interest of construction subjects;
• to avoid loss and distortion, data is communicated  within the solution only without using third-party applications;
• the user influences data within the powers transparently determined for all project participants.

Based on the theoretical assumptions, the basis of such a solution can only be a solution for machine generation of detailed-design documentation which autonomously (without users’ involvement) creates all subsequently required models, including calculated and design ones, on the basis of an architectural model of the facility. The project owner configures the access rights of the users they require. All procedures and relations can copy the same in any particular country, all the way up through the financial ones among the construction participants, including after commissioning a piece of real estate. All actions with construction facilities at all stages of its life cycle are cloud-stored. As a result, the project owner buys a service which reduces their costs, and the owner of the cloud solution, in addition to monetization of their services, also gets access to the data of the total of the projects based on which big data can be generated.

Conclusion
Currently, data in the construction industry is dispersed among all construction subjects with it centralised processing being impossible. At the same time, the tools used for database compilation do not take into account the basis of relations in construction. Based on the industry features, collection and systematisation of data with the software offered in the market is impossible within the constraints of the current design technologies. No solution which collects all the necessary data which could be deemed big data is available in construction. This can only be cloud software, provided that its use will significantly reduce the costs of construction participants (designers and customers, in the first place) without conflicting with the established relations.


© Aleh Liashkevich, 2023
Director General
Institute BelNIIS RUE