Analysis of Improvement of BIM-Based Digitalization in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) Projects in China

Abstract

Digitalization is considered a dynamic change process powered by the rapid development of innovative concepts (e.g., building information modeling) that brings substantial potential benefits to the construction industry. However, previous studies of the benefits of digitalization (BIM) were mainly based on laboratory data rather than actual practices, which compromised the reliability of the results for construction practitioners. This study investigated the impact of digitalization in EPC construction projects by integrating descriptive statistics and survey-based exploratory factor analysis (SEFA). After a detailed review of related studies and meetings with experts, ten main variables and 14 unified variables were identified. The data on these variables were collected by questionnaire surveys and the extraction of information from project documentation. A total of 62 participants from 33 EPC construction projects responded to the questionnaire survey. The SEFA results indicated that digitalization can improve both the cost and time performance, with greater potential for improvement in time performance for EPC projects. In a scenario with limited digitalization implementation, this research could motivate future researchers to develop more applied research and guidelines to achieve best practices in the domain of the digitalization of construction projects.