Integrating DfMA and BIM for Sustainable Infrastructure: Industry Perspective

Modular construction has been globally recognised as a sustainable solution to the higher material consumption and wastes that account for 70% of carbon emissions in infrastructure projects. MC faces challenges with design coordination and post-design changes, leading to extra costs and delays. Integrating DfMA and BIM has emerged as a solution to these challenges. Prevailing global DfMA-BIM guidelines mainly focus on the design stage, while the procedural connection of the DfMA process with BIM tasks was inadequately addressed. Hence, this study aims to explore the current status and required procedural support for integrating and implementing DfMA and BIM for sustainable infrastructure. Following a qualitative approach, data was collected through interviews and analysed using content analysis. The research articulates the prevailing challenges in DfMA-BIM implementation and suggests ways to improve their synergy. The identified critical challenges include deciding to use DfMA after concept design, early collaboration, overlooking logistics and installation requirements and resistance to commit to BIM contractually. The study suggests implementing DfMA early, pushing all the decision-making upstream, and using ECI contracts for early collaboration. The findings highlight BIM's use in visualising, compliance checking, scenario planning, workforce training, and developing engineering solutions based on dynamic forces acting upon modules in transporting and lifting. These findings will contribute to developing a comprehensive procedural guideline for the DfMA-BIM approach in infrastructure projects.