Digital Transformation and Structural Challenges in the Moroccan Construction Sector: A Qualitative Study of Construction Professionals’ Perspectives on Building Information Modeling and Artificial Intelligence Adoption

The digital transformation of Morocco’s construction sector requires new approaches to address increasing project complexity and evolving regulatory demands. This exploratory qualitative study investigates the integration of building information modeling (BIM) and artificial intelligence (AI) through eight semi-structured interviews with field engineers, design engineers, sector experts, and researchers. The interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo, supported by systematic coding, lexical similarity analysis, and cross-matrix synthesis. The findings reveal that BIM implementation in Morocco remains predominantly at Level 1, despite unanimous recognition of its high perceived usefulness. This gap between perceived usefulness and actual adoption is primarily explained by economic, institutional, legal, and capacity-related barriers rather than technological limitations. Participants also reported successful BIM-based clash detection experiences, highlighting measurable returns on investment through reduced design conflicts, rework, and project coordination efforts. Furthermore, AI was consistently perceived as an augmentation technology that enhances professional expertise and decision-making rather than replacing human roles. Based on these findings, the study recommends establishing a national BIM mandate, developing a national BIM competence center, strengthening regulatory and legal frameworks, and promoting context-specific research and development to accelerate Morocco’s digital transition while adapting BIM and AI implementation to local technical, institutional, and climatic conditions. Future research should validate these findings through pilot implementation projects.