Connecting Design and Operation
The BIM Approach
A Digital Transformation Underway
For the past two decades, the construction sector has undergone a profound transformation driven by Building Information Modeling (BIM). As a true catalyst for the digital transition in construction, BIM has established itself as a collaborative and systemic approach that reshapes how assets are designed, built, operated, and maintained.
Historically lagging behind other industries, construction projects suffered from significant delays and considerable cost overruns. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, global construction productivity has increased by only 0.4% per year over the past two decades, compared to 3.0% formanufacturing industries. This lack of efficiency results in notable underperformance, particularly on large-scale projects where cost overruns average 80% of the initial value and schedule delays amount to anaverage of 20 months. This modest progress highlights the sector’s slowadoption of digital tools but also the immense potential of BIM to reverse the trend.
By promoting integrated and collaborative modeling, BIM breaks down process fragmentation and ensures complete traceability of information throughout the asset lifecycle, from design to maintenance.
An Integrated Lifecycle Approach
Unlike traditional methods, BIM guarantees digital continuity across design, construction, and operational phases. Each stakeholder relies on a shared digital model, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of transmitted data.
The systematic use of BIM has become a major driver of competitiveness, as it streamlines communication between stakeholders and shortens design and construction cycles. By automating repetitive tasks such as clash detection, drawing updates, and quantity take-offs, BIM improves project outcomes. According to a quantitative analysis published in the journal Discover Materials, BIM can reduce project delivery times by an average of 20% and construction costs by 15%.
A Momentum Supported by Public Policy
The French government has played a decisive role in promoting BIM nationwide. Since the Plan BIM 2022, France has moved toward the widespread adoption of digital construction practices. Building on the earlier Digital Transition Plan for Buildings (PTNB, 2015), this initiative encourages BIM implementation at every project stage, from design to asset management, by promoting training, open standards, and pilot projects.
These actions have fostered a “BIM for All” culture, supported by organizations such as buildingSMART France, the CSTB, and international standards like ISO 19650.
A Technological and Collaborative Revolution
BIM is far more than a 3D modeling tool. It represents a platform for interoperability among disciplines, where technical, geometric, and documentary information intersect within a collaborative digital environment. Emerging technologies, Cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are amplifying BIM’s capabilities, paving the way for Digital Twins, predictive tools for asset management.
This transformation marks the shift from a linear project model to a data-centric, systemic model focused on lifecycle value. The traditional roles evolve accordingly: the BIM Manager becomes the conductor of data reliability, while operators and maintainers are now full participants in the design process.
Significant Economic and Environmental Impacts
The adoption of BIM produces measurable economic gains that extend well beyond the construction phase, including lower maintenance costs, better resource allocation, and extended asset lifespan. By providing a precise digital model to facility managers, BIM enables more effective predictive maintenance. According to the white Book by Hitech CADD Services, this can generate savings of up to 30% in predictive maintenance and facilities management activities. This optimization of preventive maintenance and equipment management is a major driver for reducing operational costs.
Environmentally, BIM is a crucial tool for the ecological transition. It enables simulation of building energy performance, waste reduction, and material traceability within a circular-economy framework.
By facilitating life-cycle assessment (LCA), BIM becomes an essential instrument for meeting the goals of France’s RE 2020 environmental regulation and national carbon-neutrality targets.
BIM and the Sector’s Challenges
Despite these advantages, BIM adoption still faces challenges: a skills gap, cultural resistance, and tool fragmentation. The primary technical challenge remains interoperability, the ability to exchange data seamlessly between different software platforms. Open standards such as IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) are central to ongoing standardization efforts.
Another major issue concerns data longevity: ensuring that information created during design remains usable decades later for maintenance and facility management.
Toward a New Industrial Paradigm
The rise of BIM marks a turning point comparable to the Industrial Revolution, the construction sector’s entry into the data era. The value of a building now lies not only in its physical form but also in the quality, accessibility, and reliability of its digital information. In this sense, BIM is part of a global digital transformation that interlinks construction, operation, maintenance, and sustainability.
This paradigm shift paves the way for BIM for Asset, Operations and Maintenance (BIM AOM) and Digital Twins, which will be explored in the following articles. Together, they extend the BIM revolution by placing data at the heart of decision-making.
Key Takeaways
Updated: October 2025
