Rotterdam, 26 June 2015 – BIM can be seen as a ‘next generation’ way of designing, engineering, sharing and making use of information in the building process, but is it already taking off among installers in Europe or will this be more of a long term process? According to USP’s latest report of the European Mechanical Installation Monitor the Netherlands seem to be leading in the area of BIM. The survey is conducted on quarterly basis among 1,200 HVAC installation companies in six European countries.

Among the six investigated countries the Dutch seem to be leading in the area of BIM. Most of the HVAC installers in the Netherlands have heard of BIM. Also in the UK the installation sector is showing higher awareness with BIM than the rest of the countries. The Netherlands and the UK were showing highest implementation of BIM among architects, and the situation among the installers seems similar, but at a lower scale. In the countries where architects and engineers have already started using BIM, it is logical that also the HVAC installers will be more aware and involved with BIM, as they are important part of the whole construction process. At this moment the Netherlands is clearly the leader in BIM adoption among the HVAC installers.

The low percentage of users among the HVAC installers in the other European countries, is unsurprisingly given the low awareness with BIM. In Poland and Belgium four out of five share this lack of awareness, but the lowest awareness can be found in France and Germany. Looking at the companies that are aware of the BIM concept, it shows that these are mostly the larger companies.

The request from the clients plays important part in BIM adoption. If clients do not require BIM there is no reason for the installers to start working in BIM. Only in the Netherlands a certain degree of requests for using BIM can be seen. Four out of five Dutch installers do not receive such requests, but among the share that does receive these most installers notice a growing demand. Of all installers, 13% claim to receive BIM requests and say the demand is growing. Compared to the other countries, where at most 1% of the installers noticed a growing demand, BIM is starting to take off among the HVAC installers in the Netherlands.

The outlook for the usage of BIM by the HVAC companies is still vague. In the UK, Germany and Belgium only one out of twenty installers has plans to start working in BIM. In France 98% is not planning on using BIM. Although the Dutch installers are relatively early adopters, still 82% of the ones who do not use BIM yet has no plans to start working with BIM.

As with any adoption process first the awareness will need to grow. Then the role and the benefits of working in BIM should be made clear to the installers. At this point the knowledge about BIM among the European HVAC installers is very limited.

For more information please contact:
USP Marketing Consultancy, Business Unit Do-it-Yourself & Installation
Ralitsa Ruseva, International Project Manager
Telephone: +31(0)10-2066900 
E-mail: ruseva@usp-mc.nl