BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey

The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey.

Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and nearly a quarter (23%) have 100-plus seats. In total, the Giants hold 28,174 BIM seats, with the average firm having 106 seats.

As expected, design firms are the biggest adopters of BIM, representing 48 of the top 50. AECOM Technology Corp. and HDR Architecture hold the most BIM seats, each with 2,000, followed by Parsons Brinckerhoff (1,800), Gensler (1,320), and HOK (840). Turner (#8 with 530 seats) and Mortensen Construction (#38 with 163 seats) are the only pure contractors to make the Top 50 BIM Adopters list.

Project: Yankee StadiumArchitect: HOK Sport + Venue + EventStructural engineer: Thornton Tomasetti (EA 10)MEP engineer: M-E Engineers (E 15)General contractor: Turner (C 1, CM 17)Construction manager: Tishman Speyer PropertiesRendering: Courtesy Turner Construction Co.

BIM adoption seems to be slowing among the Giants, which is expected given the rough economic environment. Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents have added or plan on adding BIM seat licenses in 2009, down from 63% in 2008. And the number of seats being purchased is expected to drop by 56% this year, from a total of 6,465 in 2008 to 2,837 in 2009.

Stantec and Gensler are adding the most seats this year (250 and 199) and are two of only four firms adding more than 100 seats in 2009—compared to eight firms in 2008.

Expanded Top BIM Adopter rankings are available at www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants.

Company* # of BIM seat licenses # seats added in '08 # seats adding in '09 *Several firms, including Fluor Corp., report having an enterprise license for BIM-related software, and, therefore, cannot provide adoption numbers. Source: 2009 Giants 300 survey. Expanded BIM rankings at: www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants. 1 AECOM Technology Corp. 2,000 — — 1 HDR Architecture 2,000 2,000 — 3 Parsons Brinckerhoff 1,800 40 50 4 Gensler 1,320 300 199 5 HOK 840 — — 6 Perkins+Will 800 80 — 7 HKS 650 200 — 8 Turner 530 200 100 9 SSOE 500 150 50 10 Skidmore, Owings & Merrill 450 75 25 11 Arup 407 — — 12 RTKL Associates 373 43 — 13 Cannon Design 320 — — 14 SmithGroup 312 80 — 15 Merrick & Co. 302 15 25 16 CH2M HILL 300 40 — 17 Jacobs 280 280 15 18 Middough 270 10 20 18 TLC Engineering for Architecture 270 25 — 20 Day & Zimmermann International 265 — — 21 Stantec 250 100 250 22 Dewberry 233 30 65 23 Perkowitz+Ruth Architects 225 — — 23 Smith Seckman Reid 225 45 20 25 KJWW Engineering Consultants 209 35 — 26 HNTB 208 — — 27 Burt Hill 205 25 — 28 Gresham, Smith and Partners 203 30 — 29 Bergmann Associates, Architects Engineers Planners 200 30 20 29 Syska Hennessy Group 200 — — 31 X-nth 199 10 — 32 PageSoutherlandPage 181 36 50 33 Albert Kahn Associates 180 35 10 33 Goodwyn Mills and Cawood 180 20 — 35 Affiliated Engineers 175 13 — 36 Heery International 173 10 10 37 Fanning/Howey Associates 169 12 26 38 Mortenson Construction 163 25 — 39 Morris Architects 162 20 — 40 KMD Architects 155 20 10 41 Clark Nexsen 153 10 — 42 KlingStubbins 150 50 75 42 RNL Design 150 — — 44 GRAEF 145 15 5 44 Leo A Daly 145 22 30 44 NTD Architecture 145 — — 47 Arquitectonica 140 — — 47 Corgan Associates 140 25 — 47 CTA Architects Engineers 140 115 — 47 Little 140 — — 2009 2008 Company 2008 Billings ($) Rank Source: 2009 Giants 300 survey. For expanded Architecture Firm rankings, visit: www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants 1 1 Gensler 744,300,000 2 2 Perkins+Will 400,000,000 3 3 Callison 185,000,000 4 — Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates 146,000,000 5 4 NBBJ 135,735,000 6 5 RMJM 129,989,567 7 9 WATG 110,889,000 8 6 Perkins Eastman 107,000,000 9 7 Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects 81,070,000 10 15 tvsdesign 71,000,000 11 13 HMC Architects 65,446,823 12 8 Arquitectonica 62,400,000 13 10 MulvannyG2 Architecture 60,000,000 14 34 VOA Associates 51,000,000 15 12 NTD Architecture 49,200,000 16 24 Corgan Associates 48,929,118 17 17 Anshen+Allen 47,394,883 18 18 OZ Architecture 44,300,000 19 14 Perkowitz+Ruth Architects 44,000,000 20 21 FXFOWLE Architects 43,700,000 21 19 Cooper Carry 42,715,000 22 11 Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates 42,470,000 23 23 Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott 42,081,801 24 26 Ware Malcomb 41,896,419 25 35 BBG-BBGM 41,000,000 26 27 RSP Architects 40,091,508 27 — BLT Architects 39,500,000 28 29 FRCH Design Worldwide 39,000,000 29 — SchenkelShultz 34,880,000 30 29 KKE Architects 33,200,000 31 37 WWCOT 32,400,000 32 33 FKP Architects 31,939,000 33 48 Fentress Architects 31,679,680 34 — NAC Architecture 31,551,000 35 35 Jerde Partnership, The 28,700,000 36 — SHW Group 28,000,000 37 43 Morris Architects 27,109,737 38 — RBB Architects 27,000,000 39 28 WHR Architects 26,400,000 40 38 MBH Architects 26,294,628 41 — Goodwyn Mills and Cawood 26,240,000 42 20 Nadel Architects 26,000,000 43 — Polshek Partnership Architects 25,397,128 44 32 Niles Bolton Associates 25,300,000 45 22 Mithun 24,000,000 46 44 Cuningham Group Architecture 23,892,676 47 41 Harvard Jolly 23,828,636 48 45 Solomon Cordwell Buenz 23,500,000 49 42 Carrier Johnson + Culture 22,000,000 50 — Gould Evans Associates 21,402,000 51 — Cambridge Seven Associates 21,400,000 52 50 Kirksey 20,821,686