The future of BIM in Morocco and Africa with Zineb Faiq

Zineb is a qualified Architect, BIM Professional and Trainer with a deep seated passion for the growth of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and new technologies driving a digital culture across the built environment.

As the Founder of BIMPATH, Zineb’s focus has been on providing international consultancy and training in digital construction technologies, contributing to the advancement of BIM practices.

In this conversation with Dr Graham Kelly, Zineb discusses the current maturity level and the future direction of BIM in Morocco and throughout Africa. Together with demand in the region for bigger projects that require bigger thinking in the wake of the preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2030 and the introduction of the National Strategy: Digital Morocco 2030.

Despite her passions for digital progress, Zineb firmly believes that BIM and transformation go beyond technology, they require strategic thinking, collaboration and education – all human centric enablers. Meaning technological progression can not take place without people!

What are your views on the level of understanding and adoption of BIM and digital construction within Morrocco and Africa?
It was only a few years ago when Morocco established the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administration Reform, which aimed to accelerate digital transformation by modernising public administration and promoting digital inclusion for all citizens, particularly in rural areas. It has really emphasised Morocco’s commitment to digital transformation within the construction sector.

To support this, Morocco has now launched the National Strategy Digital Morocco 2030 – positioning Morocco as a prominent leader in digital transformation across the whole of Africa.

The strategy focuses on key areas of economic growth, new infrastructure, talent development and job creation – aiming to create 270,000 jobs in the digital sector by 2030.

There is also to be extra support for startups, an initiative firmly supported by our King. I’m really proud of all of these strategies going on in my country and also how we have some key events that that will be critical in the future of the construction sector. Later this year Morocco is hosting the Africa Cup of Nations and in 2030 we are co-hosting the FIFA World Cup.

What impact are large events such as these having on the construction market?
Morocco is making a significant investment in sports infrastructure, urban development and transportation. We are aiming to have the largest football stadium in the world!

There has never been a better time for Africa to really step forward to accelerate digital change.

In parallel with this change we also need to focus on people to introduce new skills and levels of understanding of how BIM processes can support the digital transformation of construction and these new mega projects on the horizon.

How would you go about the introduction and enablement of these new skills developments?
We are witnessing an evolution of education right now. Taking universities for example, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, BIM and digital construction are now a core part of curriculum, as well as in work training for professional certification.

Many young people are realising the importance of being these skills and have an understanding on the importance of data and information management. For me, everything starts with people and then we go, obviously to the technical approach. Which is why collaboration is so important, cross sector and cross region collaboration is needed to drive digital change.

We know that by using shared digital platforms, different teams across architects, engineers, contractors and clients can access and update project information simultaneously, fostering better communication and coordination.  But a lot of this is still new to the African market.

In Morocco we are learning from other regions on their digital transformation journeys, this opens the doors to new ways of working and allows us to fast track our own maturity levels.

What comes next in Morocco’s own digital transformation journey?
We need to continue scaling up digital transformation, strengthening interoperability and ensuring the widespread of training and certification.  But we must not forget that that BIM and digital transformation go beyond technology, they require strategy, collaboration and education.

Our new Digital Morocco 2030 strategy is the key to unlocking construction’s digital future, it offers a skills plan as well as opening up investment opportunities. Digital transformation will be a cornerstone of construction sector reform for productivity, efficiency and quality of delivery in not just Morocco but across the whole of Africa.