How are the Educational Institutes of Ireland Embracing the Paradigm Shift towards BIM?

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate how Building Information Modelling (BIM) is being implemented and embraced within Higher Education. The authors intend to examine the current delivery and aspirations of the sector. As the Irish economy faces several more years of austerity, every opportunity must be seized to make design more efficient in Architecture, Engineering and Construction. Higher Educational Institutes must respond to ensure that graduates have the skill set to support this. This paper will examine how these institutions need to migrate away from the traditional iterative design approach/process to a more collaborative holistic approach using BIM.This will involve a series of semi structured interviews of key members within educational organisations, such as Trinity College Dublin (TCD), University College Dublin (UCD) and National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM). The researchers’ organisation has to date set up a new multidisciplinary school which will be viewed as part of this paper. Should there be multidisciplinary schools in all organisations? At an International level, BIM has become a critical tool for efficient and cost effective modern design. The UK is embracing this change and has mandated the use of BIM through the "Government Construction Strategy”.Ireland’s educational Institutions need to embrace, what some might say is a paradigm shift towards BIM. This paper will identify what barriers currently exist which will prevent Ireland embracing this holistic shift head on.