Contrastación de hipótesis

This actor-network is part of a “collaborative exercise” to design standardised residential houses using different types of building (timber frame, light steel frame, traditional bricks) in BIM. SHT can also be defined as an actor-network since both human (e.g. Project manager, architects, sub-contractors) and non-human actors (e.g. BIM, other software, architectural models) are present and their interactions contribute to shape collaboration. This actor-network aims to construct the object of developing standardised residential buildings by implementing BIM, as it showed a great success in the school projects. Hence, they were used as a trial for a limited selection of standardised houses. The actor-network is part of John’s strategy of extending the use of BIM and developing standardised products (houses), and it is directly linked to the supply chain agreements’ objectives. It is therefore also connected with the Purchasing team actor-network too.

We’ve got that agreement where we’re giving them work and they’re working closely with us and they’re giving us good rates and as part of that agreement, they’re going into the BIM world in Revit with us. So this exercise is a spin off from the intentions we’ve written into that agreement (SHT Project Manager – 2016).

It involves various employees within TCC, sub-contractors, and architects. Hence, the CIS actor-network is black boxed in the SHT actor-network. The main leader of the SHT actor- network is the Project Manager who aims to schedule regular meetings and workshops with all the other actors and to follow a strict program of design, pricing, and then product launch of standardised houses. The other participants have to follow this planned program which aims to get regular enhancements in terms of detail using the software BIM and, in particular, Revit, Buzzsaw, BIM 360. The sub-contractors for timber frame, steel frame, and

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roofing have to develop the models according to their level of expertise, and, as they are learning how to use BIM, collaborate with the architects to translate their models (made with different CAD software) into Revit.

(…) we’re still finding is the consultants are all over Revit and are very easy to use it. The subcontractors are still struggling. The learning experience we’ve had on this job is to drag GSFC and TFC’s along with us because they’re not quite there in Revit which is what we’re talking about, different file formats and compatibility and naming

conventions. What we’ve done here is a snapshot of where the construction industry is at the moment. Consultants will happily design in Revit but then when you get onto site and you employ subcontractors, all they want is paper copies and they’ll build to that. So it’s trying to get those subcontractors to use the Revit model and take it through the construction process. (…) When you come to housing and we’re trying to do a house, trying to get subcontractors BIM compatible is very difficult and that’s going to be a journey that we’ll struggle along with for the next three or four years. We find bar these two guys, GSFC and TFC’s, there not many of our subcontractors that can work in Revit (Project Manager – 2016).

The network of actors met in person about every two or three weeks, but their interactions extended outside the actual meeting. For example, the suppliers and the architects were regularly speaking via emails, phone calls, or Skype videos. Moreover, the software Buzzsaw and BIM 360 allowed to create an online platform in which the actors could share notes and notifications regarding the models, or any other issue. Hence, the actor-network had open boundaries in which the collaboration and strategizing among actors was translated outside the actual meeting with the Project Manager.

In BIM you also have got the online collaboration which is Buzzsaw as we sit at the moment, it now might be BIM 360 but it is an online portal where all that information gets uploaded, reviewed, uploaded, reviewed till it’s right and shared (Project Manager – 2016).

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Therefore, collaboration in this type of network occurs in different ways: meeting in person or interacting remotely. However, both of these two ways of collaboration are employed through the implementation of technology. This new format of partnering and strategizing represents an innovation within the firm and its supply chain. Indeed, as the interactions that aimed to make strategic and immediate decisions can happen during meetings, and directly with BIM (e.g. through the use of comments and notifications which are responsively sent to all the participants of the project), technology has also role in influencing the way in which the actors communicate and collaborate. Nonetheless, the actor-network, as it was observed, was not as strong as it should have been, because there was a lack of clear communication between the actors who had to rely on BIM and the online platform to going on with the models and the level of details in order to stay on the Project manager’s schedule. As I discussed in Chapter 5 (sub-section 5.2.2), this led to issues in the moment of the clash detection exercise which revealed previous problems of collaboration.

Moreover, this actor-network can be considered fluid because its boundaries are not fixed, but it is influenced by the other actor-networks. In fact, it is influenced by John’s strategy as it represents the strategic guide into the development of standardised houses and BIM, and it is influenced by the Purchasing team actor-network which selected the mandated suppliers who are working on the SHT project. The SHT actor-network also implements collaboration differently according to the way in which BIM is used. For example, collaboration and communication is enhanced when they occur remotely through the software (even though it has been argued how it did not work at first with the clash detection exercise), whereas meetings in person seemed to be weaker in terms of active collaboration since the activity schedule strictly followed the project manager’s programme. This means that the actors were collaborating and implementing BIM by following the lead of the project manager, and CIS was constrained by this schedule.