Integrating Knowledge of Project Management and BIM for MEP Education: Review and Recommendations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to address the importance of project management education and building information modeling (BIM) for coordinating mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) services. Coordination of MEP services for large projects is often complex and challenging. A systematic literature review was carried out to understand the previous research on the coordination of MEP services for various building projects. This paper proposes a unique framework to simplify the process of learning MEP. The framework recommends covering MEP education in three stages: fundamentals of project management, fundamentals of MEP services, and use of BIM for MEP. The paper discusses the importance of learning project management and BIM for reducing the complexity of MEP coordination. The author cites his own teaching experiences and examples to justify the proposed framework. The finding of this study provides significant insights for practicing architects and engineers working in the domain of MEP services and will help them to understand this complex and exhaustive topic in a more simplified way. The study offers an interesting perspective of integrating the fundamentals of project management and BIM for MEP education.