Digital Construction and BIM Research in Ireland 2016-2020

As the construction industry opens up post pandemic, new and significant challenges will demand considerable expertise, not least in financial viability, solving the housing crisis and facing the very significant climate change pressures to make the industry less wasteful and less carbon intensive. This presents an excellent opportunity to further inculcate aspects of lean construction, particularly BIM into many aspects of construction not traditionally associated with digital construction, provided the necessary expertise is available and known to exist. Following a well-received recent conference paper summarising BIM-related research published by academics in Ireland’s higher education institutions in 2020, this paper will review and identify noteworthy publications in digital technologies, including BIM, by academics of this island’s third level institutions in the last five years. Areas of expertise of individuals will be identified to act as a useful directory for both industry and fellow researchers as well as providing a valuable national resource to identify research gaps which need funding if the ambitions of the national plan for the digitisation of the industry are to be realised. Using an already proven methodology, a survey of the 16 academic institutions in Ireland will be conducted through identified representatives in each institution, seeking all conference and journal papers published in the 2016-2020 period. The assembled database will be categorised, sorted and analysed to identify academic individuals in the workforce with extant research strengths in the various themes to establish the available expertise and areas for growth in the next five years.