Building Information Modeling (BIM) has proven its value for design in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.However, currently only a few leading firms succeed in reaping the full potential of BIM. Especially, specialist designers remainexcluded from innovative practices. Reasons include the technical hurdles of BIM adoption and a misfit between human agencyversus the affordances of BIM. Not all designers have the capabilities required to actively partake in BIM. Thus, BIM practice isoften ‘messy’ and characterized by a large degree of unnecessary rework and workarounds. “How and why digital workaroundsunfold in BIM design?” is at the core of the inquiry reported in this paper. Based on a ‘fresh’ theoretical approach entitled Theoryof Workarounds, we explicate the nature of BIM related workarounds. The industrial setting involves an office refurbishmentproject in Oslo, Norway. Many specialist designers remained excluded from BIM in this project and a range of differentworkarounds have been conducted. We portray how and why digital workarounds happened. This provides valuable learning forresearchers and practitioners interested in digital workarounds in construction. We contribute to better understanding of messypractices surrounding BIM and to drawing the attention of scholars to workarounds as an area in need of further research. Lastly,our work constitutes an early application of Alter’s Theory of Workarounds in the setting of a construction project.
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