# How to Adopt BIM in the Building Construction Sector across Greece?
## 1 Introduction  
The construction sector is of strategic importance for the European Commission (EC) [1] as it creates and maintains the buildings and infrastructure necessary for other economic sectors [2] and provides the base for all the activities that take place in the European Union (EU) from the economic and social point of view. It represents 9% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the EU-28 [3] and is the largest industrial employer in Europe, despite the declining course observed in the beginning of the 2010s, because of the economic crisis (see in [4]). Over 43.6 million workers in the EU depend directly or indirectly on the construction sector, a fact that underlines its dynamics; 40%-45% of energy consumption in Europe comes from buildings ([5,6]), while 5%-10% is used for processing and transport of products and accessories of the construction sector. From the above it is clear that, as much in the medium term as long term, the construction sector and the infrastructure sector, in general, must adapt to the directions of sustainable strategies aiming at the delimitation of a series of environmental problems. Indeed, the future strategy for competitiveness in the construction sector is called upon to be environmentally sustainable and, in parallel, must focus on the social challenges formed on the European and world level. For this reason, the EU strategy for the sustainable competitiveness of the construction sector focuses even on employment and market access [1], which constitute important parameters for the reinforcement of EU citizens' quality life. Such a direction seems to be the continuation of the Horizon 2020 Strategy directions that aimed at the creation of healthy, safe, viable and intelligent infrastructure [1]. In this context, European Directive 2014/24/EU [7] brings to the foreground of the European institutional framework the term building information modelling (BIM). The term is mentioned in article No. 22 of the Directive where it is noted that in the framework of signing public works contracts and the invitation to tenders for relative studies, the member states must include the use of specialized electronic modelling tools for building construction information or similar means. Even if BIM is widely used in countries like France, United Kingdom and Germany [8], things in Greece are very different. This paper presents the BIM use level in Greece and the way with which it could be better integrated in the construction sector. The aim of the work is to present an overview of the situation and to make a brief assessment on the proposals developed for the better adoption of the tool in Greece, taking into consideration the European experience (Section 3). Previously (Section 2), a literature review is undertaken where the tool is described along with the advantages of its use. The results that arise (Section 4) permit a review regarding the actions taking place and programmed in the immediate future. Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Promoting Sustainable Development: A Brief Literature Review  
BIM became a popular acronym in the last decade [9], although it emerged as a concept in the late 1970s [10], after years of research in order for the components and repercussions of building product models to be investigated [11]. It is a process that uses computer technology [12; 13] to stimulate the performance of a building, during the whole building life-cycle, and provide a communication channel between architects, the construction team and the client [13] that may even be the public sector. According to the National BIM Standards (NBIMS) Committee [14], \"a BIM is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. As such it serves as a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle from inception onward\". The above definition clearly depicts BIM as an operational methodology aiming at decision making [15] and not a designing software as it is often, incorrectly, understood [16].