The workability and usefulness of building information modelling based design for building performance

Abstract

Aligning the construction industry with performance demands, waste elimination, and sustainability is a recent development due to the emergence of new technological approaches and thoughts around future-proofing. This thinking often relies on innovation and the adoption of sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. However, trends in influencing the processes and approaches to construction management from the design phase to demolition are beginning to attract more attention. The use of information technology has provided solutions for monitoring and improving the performance of buildings from the design phase. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is at the forefront of emerging processes. It can be implemented throughout the construction lifecycle using centralized digital models created at the design phase, which is crucial for any successful performance. BIM has become a powerful solution that can advance and renovate many aspects of the construction sector. Despite its vital position in the economies of countries, this industry suffers from the dominance of many types of waste that hinder the improvement of the performance and productivity of this sector. This paper explores the optimization brought by BIM-based design on waste minimization of various kinds and its added value to achieve sustainable and efficient construction goals. After a demonstrative parade of BIM solutions for design made on two related pilot areas, building and road infrastructure, the study highlights the actual contribution of BIM on the elimination of time, budget, and environmental wastes. The results also reveal the impact of efficient design on the performance of the building process and the ecological and energetic optimizations brought about. In addition, it sheds new light on critical wasteful aspects that hinder the efficiency of the act of building, which is: design complexity – loss of data and information – design updates – budgetary – time and environmental waste.