Green Building Information Modeling Research Articles

Novel framework for BIM interoperability for sustainability and green buildings - an application for concrete structures

The construction industry has a great impact on the environment, therefore sustainable construction presents itself as a growing requirement of society. However, the concern with green buildings must not only be considered during the construction stage, but also during the entire life cycle of the building, integrating all stages from the design up until the demolition. Ensuring that the information permeates this lifecycle without data losses is vital. This way, efficient interoperability can support sustainability, allowing data to feed the process, and promoting the creation of more sustainable buildings. BIM (Building Information Modeling) arises as a means to support interoperability improvements in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry, by sharing models through open formats and enabling communication amongst actors. This paper presents a framework for BIM interoperability, with the goal to support knowledge organization and aid users in the decision-making processes. It will allow users to track sustainability concepts throughout the entire green BIM lifecycle and to improve processes in the construction industry toward more interoperable processes, minimizing data loss, and improving communication and efficiency. The framework is presented through process mapping techniques to analyze and integrate sustainability concepts using BIM throughout the lifecycle of a building. This framework considers not only data interoperability but also other aspects such as process, business, and service interoperability. Also, an application of the framework is described, using the case of cast-in-place concrete structures. Research findings identified the critical data points in the lifecycle of concrete structures which can influence sustainability.

Critical components for successful BIM-based sustainable building design collaboration: structural equation model analysis

Purpose The efficient application of building information modeling (BIM) methodology in the sustainable building design process, known as green BIM, provides ideal leverage to significantly enhance multidiscipline team collaboration. However, the practical execution of green BIM is characterized by issues such as duplication of work, information silos and poor cross-party coordination. Besides, there are limited studies on the specific components that are critical to driving green BIM collaborative design. This study aims to establish the critical components of green BIM collaborative design to enable the multidiscipline team to effectively use diverse software to collaboratively exchange accurate information, thus ensuring informed decision-making in the sustainable building design process. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained by using a questionnaire to survey 360 respondents comprising mainly architects and engineers (civil, mechanical and electrical) in Malaysia. Subsequently, data were analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis. Afterward, a measurement model was established and used to test the 11 hypotheses of this study. Findings A covariance-based structural equation model of the critical components for successful BIM-based sustainable building design collaboration was established. Practical implications The research findings will guide the multidisciplinary team to collaboratively exchange accurate information in green BIM practices. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt in the literature to provide a pragmatic approach for practitioners to combine the established critical components of green BIM to collaboratively exchange heterogeneous sustainability criteria and efficiently design buildings with high sustainability performance, particularly in emerging countries like Malaysia.

Green Building Information Modelling to Raise the Efficiency of a Residential Building in the New Administrative Capital

Recent economic and population growth patterns in Egypt almost guarantee that energy consumption and emissions will continue to rise rapidly if nothing changes. According to the United Nations Development Program, Egypt’s energy demand will have been triple by 2030. Additionally, Egypt’s total emissions from energy use have been increased eightfold since 1971. The construction industry has been pushed to adopt sustainable building strategies, and the consensus among researchers and practitioners is that the most important phase to make decisions about is during the early stages of design. Arguably, high-performance buildings require a different design mechanism than traditional methods to achieve a holistic, sustainable outcome. Indeed, Building Information Modelling (BIM) can greatly facilitate the informed sustainability in buildings. Although BIM and sustainable design emerge from different underlying factors, they share an important common thread: the success of both depends on large part of building design philosophy loaded from the start. In fact, BIM can greatly facilitate the informed sustainability in buildings. Within the framework of reviewing the literature, researchers concluded the importance of BIM in the early stages of building design. The authors conducted an applied case study to evaluate a residential building in the new Administrative Capital in Cairo, Egypt, and concluded a set of design upgrades to raise the energy efficiency of the building and reduce carbon emissions from operating energy.

The Development of BIM-MyCREST Process Model for Concept Design of Green Buildings

The synergies of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) process and green building assessment tools (GBATs) like the Malaysian Carbon Reduction and Environmental Sustainability Tool (MyCREST) known as green BIM, ensure that information is accurately exchanged during the green building design (GBD) practices. However, the issue of poor Information Exchange synthesis persists due to the lack of a standard model for green BIM implementation. Therefore, this study aims to develop the BIM-MyCREST Process Model (BMPM) for the concept design of green buildings. To actualize the research aim, an in-depth interview was conducted with 10 construction experts. Using the narrative analysis technique, the interview data were analyzed to identify the incidents that take place during the BIM process execution in GBD practices. With reference to MyCREST Guide, BIM standards; and the use of Integrated DEFinition (IDEF) language (IDEF0 and IDEF3), the BMPM was explicitly coordinated following the narratives of the interviewees. The developed BMPM will enable the multi-disciplinary GBD team to use the diverse domain BIM software to exchange accurate information and make critical decisions during the design of green buildings; thereby developing a building with high sustainability performance and accomplishing the business and commercial objectives of the MyCREST rating.

The Construction of Green Building Integrated Evaluation System Based on BIM Technology

In order to study the problems of information disconnection, poor coordination of project participants, design evaluation, and so on, in the process of green building evaluation in China, this paper proposes a construction method of green building integrated evaluation system based on BIM Technology. This method constructs the research framework through the research on green building evaluation and BIM (building information modeling), analyzes the whole life cycle of BIM in green building, solves the problems existing in green building evaluation in China through the application of BIM, expounds the green building evaluation process under BIM environment, and studies the information interaction of green building evaluation under BIM environment and the application of BIM in green building design evaluation and operation evaluation. The results show that by studying the application of BIM in green building evaluation, it is demonstrated that the green building evaluation based on BIM can effectively improve the evaluation efficiency and realize the informatization, integration, and high efficiency of green building evaluation.

Green BIM-based study on the green performance of university buildings in northern China

BackgroundEnergy-efficient university campuses will play a vital role in the development of future sustainable cities, and will be important for achieving the Chinese carbon-neutrality goals. It is, therefore, necessary to develop new decision-making tools for evaluating the sustainability of campus buildings. Since university campuses typically comprise a broad variety of building types, standardized evaluation methods and tools, such as Green BIM, are needed. Green BIM (Building Information Modeling) emphasizes the importance and role of BIM technology in the design and construction of green buildings, providing a standardized framework for the decision-making process, and methods for improving the green performance of buildings.MethodsThis study develops a method based on the Green BIM framework, using BIM architecture to analyse building performance, and the Assessment Standard for Green Building (GB/T 50378-2019) standard to establish benchmark values for evaluation, and project objectives. The method is evaluated on three examples of the most representative university buildings in northern China. The goal is to understand common denominators and differences between different types of campus buildings, in terms of green building indicators, that are important to consider in the early design stages of campus building complexes.ResultsIn this study, a library is used as a case study to demonstrate the tools for evaluating green performance. The study optimizes green performance from five aspects: surrounding environment, function layout, envelope performance and system transformation, and management measures improvement. The results show that this optimization scheme can achieve reductions of the annual loads of about 47.4%, in line with the national energy efficiency standards for public buildings. In particular, the heating load was reduced by 59.1%, and the cooling load reduced by 21.5%.ConclusionA comprehensive approach, combining the aspects of planning, building design, system design, energy management, and energy conservation planning, is required to improve the green performance of university buildings to meet the goals. In the future, it will be further necessary to perform data mining of energy consumption patterns, and continue energy retrofitting of existing buildings and energy systems, to achieve the goal of green and low-carbon campuses.

Integration of Aerobiological Information for Construction Engineering Based on LiDAR and BIM

In green urban areas, the allergenic factor is important when selecting trees to improve the quality of life of the population. An application of laser imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) in building information modelling (BIM) is the capture of geo-referenced geometric information of the environment. This study presents the process of digitalisation of a green infrastructure inventory based on the geolocation and bioparameters of the cypress species. The aerobiological index (IUGZA) was estimated by developing green infrastructure BIM models at different detail levels and with a new BIM dimension (6D) for the urban environment. The novelty of the study is the modelling of urban information for evaluating the potential environmental impact related to the allergenicity of the urban green infrastructure using LiDAR through BIM. The measurements of cypress trees based on bioparameters and distances were applied to the IUGZA. This innovation for describing the current 3D environments and designing new scenarios in 6D may prevent future problems in urban areas during construction projects.

Circular economy in Brazilian construction industry: Current scenario, challenges and opportunities.

The effective implantation of the circular economy (CE) presents a great challenge to the industrial sectors, mostly in those of greater environmental impact, such as construction industry. In Brazil, this industry has been growing over the last 20 years; however, such growth was based on an extractivist economy without any consideration to the end of its products lifespan. Only in 2017, 45 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste were generated in the country. This paper presents the current context of public policies in the Brazilian construction industry and proposes initiatives to introduce principles of CE. An exploratory study was developed, and all the 45 references presented in Appendix A of the review paper of Benachio et al. were considered to draw new ideas. These ideas are related and compared to key points in Brazilian regulations. Twelve opportunities for the improvement are listed and organized by construction stages (planning and design, materials manufacturing, construction processes, use and demolition). The ones related to design and planning using Green building information modelling, and materials manufacturing with recycled waste are highlighted due to the existing actions, standards, and Federal legislation. It was found that some sectors and the government already have actions related to CE (based on the 3R principle), but still there are several initiatives needed for its effective implementation in the Brazilian construction industry.

Green BIM potential in assessing the sustainable design quality of low-income housing: A review

This paper intended to investigate the potential use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) as an assessment tool that can evaluate and support optimization of sustainable design quality, especially for low-income housing or “Masyarakat Berpenghasilan Rendah” (MBR) in Indonesia. The consideration of sustainability aspects in the preliminary design phase is no longer a choice but a need for every stakeholder involved in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. BIM here was developed to be the effective technology that supports all stakeholders in integrating the needs of sustainable building design through sustainable workflow which is also known as “Green BIM”. The first phase of this study is conducting a critical review of integration between BIM and Green Building Rating System for Home, including LEED, BREEAM, GBI, Green Mark, and GREENSHIP. Then it is followed by reviewing BIM implementation in the housing sector based on case studies in several countries. The findings revealed that there is a potential use of BIM for small-scale project especially to support the sustainability of MBR in Indonesia. Even so, there are also challenges to be considered, including financial support and incentives from the government in the effort of implementing this Green BIM approach.

Assessing the Applicability of Green Building Information Modelling for Existing Green Buildings

Green Building Information Modelling is a novel approach which address the momentous need of sustainability. It offers more standardized way of creating buildings which in turn optimize the building performances while attending to the sustainable requirements. Comprising numerous techniques, Green BIM ensures more accurate and comprehensive building performances to optimize the energy efficiency of buildings. Thus, there is a considerable advantage to create more energy efficient buildings using Green BIM. However, the use of Green BIM for existing green buildings is very less while new green buildings are managed using Green BIM. Hence, this research focused to assess the applicability of integrating Green Building Information Modelling for existing green buildings through a practical implementation and identifying the potential challenges. Conducting a comprehensive literature survey first, Green BIM techniques and data requirements of Green BIM were reviewed. A single case study was conducted next, to practically apply the Green BIM technology. The data requirements for Green BIM were identified prior to the selection of case for the study. A questionnaire survey was conducted to analyze the data availability including the data identified from literature. Analyzing the survey findings, an existing green building was selected and finally, the steps to be followed for the use of Green BIM were established. The challenges of the implementation were also presented in this study. The findings proved that; Green BIM is a potential technology for the existing green buildings.

Green-building information modelling (Green-BIM) assessment framework for evaluating sustainability performance of building projects: a case of Nigeria

ABSTRACT There is a research gap in the use of digital systems to aid the sustainability performance assessment of buildings, which informs the development of the green-BIM assessment (GBA) framework in this paper. The study employed a conceptual framework design, expert surveys, and case studies to identify and establish the different components of the GBA framework. The developed GBA framework incorporates the BSAM scheme as its primary green building rating system and provides a cost-effective solution for sustainability appraisal. The findings revealed that the 4Ws of the information exchange workflows would facilitate the GBA system's implementation and the expert validation confirmed its suitability for the Nigerian context. The C-SDSS served as the digital component of the GBA system towards automating the sustainability performance assessment of buildings. The GBA system provides the construction industry with a useful tool that could ease comparing two or more building projects or its designs for several uses – such as contract bidding, evaluating alternative designs, and the like. The application of the GBA system can be extended to facilitate its adoption in other regions or countries. The study’s deliverables are expected to enhance smart and eco-initiatives in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa.

Digital Transition and Waste Management in Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations Industry

The research aims at analyzing the integration of Waste Management (WM) strategies and Information management in the construction procurement process. The application of Building information modelling (BIM) methodologies for a Most Economically Advantageous Tender could address the digital transition in order to adopt environmentally sustainable practices. Despite the wide regulation regarding waste minimization, an overview of which is provided, AECO is still one of the most polluting industrialized sector. Drivers and barriers to the method, and a literature review are provided: BIM approaches to enable WM practices have been analyzed from the designer and constructor’s point of view, but few studies investigated the role of the Client, in particular the Public Client. The goal of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of Most Economically Advantageous Tender and a BIM methodology to promote WM strategies during the tender phase. Design Build (DB) and Design Bid Build (DBB) procurement models are tested through three case studies of Italian schools' calls for proposals: the BIM model enabled to verify the bids in terms of WM strategies implementation. Blockchain and Smart contract future applications are also investigated in order to ensure transparency of the whole process. The Public Client could trigger a change in the construction sector regarding the integration of WM practices, as a central and active actor of the construction process, through the application of Green Public Procurement and BIM methodologies.

EVALUATION OF BIM APPLICATION FOR WATER EFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT

ABSTRACT Application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in architecture, engineering, and construction industry is known for its productivity and efficiency. Green BIM is one of the recent applications that aids users in achieving sustainability and/or improved building performance objectives through design and analysis of digital semantic models. The focus is on the application of green BIM for water efficiency (WE) analysis in accordance with the Malaysian Green Building Index (GBI) as a sustainability assessment tool. Revit Green Project Template (RGPT) and Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS) as two available BIM tools were selected to evaluate and compare the applicability of each method for GBI WE assessment. To resolve the limitations identified from each evaluated method, automated GBI assessment tool (AGBIA) was developed as an alternative. The AGBIA as a supporting tool was established with the use of Dynamo, a visual programming tool to compensate for the limitations faced in the investigated methods. The practicality of each method was explored using a hypothetical model in Revit to automate information correspondent to 10 water efficiency assessment points and generate reports and documents necessary for the GBI design stage certification. The final phase involves verification of results obtained from each method using the conventional GBI WE calculator. AGBIA is suitable for the green BIM users in Malaysia based on the flexibility and automation over defining and assigning green parameters that are in line with the local context, the direct link of green information to the model, as well as the detail of presented data.

Systematising multidisciplinary sustainable building design processes utilising BIM

PurposeSustainability considerations are often treated as an add-on to building design, following ad-hoc processes for their implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate, model and facilitate the early stages of building information modelling (BIM) enabled sustainable building design (SBD) by formalising the ad-hoc working relationships of the best practices in order to standardise the optimal collaboration workflows.Design/methodology/approachFour stages of data collection were conducted, including a total of 32 semi-structured interviews with industry experts from 17 organisations. Fourteen “best practice” case studies were identified, and roles and responsibilities, resources, information exchanges, interdependencies, timing and sequence of events and critical decisions were examined.FindingsThe research classified the critical components of SBD into a framework utilising content and thematic analyses. These components were coordinated explicitly into a systematic process, which followed concurrent engineering (CE) principles utilising Integrated DEFinition (IDEF) 3 structured diagramming technique. Then, Green BIM Box (GBB) workflow management prototype tool was developed to analyse communication and delivery of BIM-enabled SBD in a centralised system.Originality/valueThis study represents an improvement to previous attempts to systematically define the BIM-enabled SBD process for the early stages. The results support the idea that a transparent SBD process, which follows specified communication patterns, can assist in achieving sustainability efficiently in terms of time, cost and effort.

BIM Management Measure for an Effective Green Building Project

In light of the gap in research and practice, with regard to achieving the sustainability goals of green building, while maximizing combination with building-information-modeling (BIM) as a social system—a gap that is expressed in the absence of integration of all stakeholders—a managerial measure is proposed to integrate them and promote sustainable green building. By using a framework for implementing BIM as a social system, and through network analysis, an index is developed to assess its integration into the green building—the Green BIM Index. This measure consists of comparing a social benchmark for optimal implementation with the actual implementation, in a given project. The index is intended to help score the BIM integration level in a green building. Comparing the BIM management measure results with social benefit assessments, and the effectiveness of BIM in nine case-studies enables to understand project outcomes in terms of schedules, budgets, and quality. The paper demonstrates the index applicability, pointing to possible significant economic improvements through the implementation of BIM social capabilities. BIM management benchmarking is helpful for the comparative evaluation of similar projects incorporating green building with BIM, indicating the level of integration to improve benefits.

A review of Building Information Modeling research for green building design through building performance analysis

The strength of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in achieving sustainable buildings is well recognized by the global construction industry. However, current understanding of the state-of-the-art green BIM research is still limited. In particular, a focus study on how BIM contribute to green building design through building performance analysis (BPA) is not available. This paper aims to provide systematic and comprehensive insights on current trends and future potentials of green BIM research by analyzing the existing literature with their research features (i.e. research backgrounds, goals, methods and outputs). In total, 80 publications have been collected, analyzed and discussed. The results show that among ten main BPA types, energy & thermal analysis, green building rating analysis, and cost and benefit analysis are the most studied. However, wind & ventilation analysis, acoustic analysis, and water efficiency analysis receive little attention. Moreover, more research focusing on integrated design analysis should be carried out for optimal design outcome. In addition, most of the collected literature research on the capability of data integration and analysis of green BIM tools, while their capability of visualization and documentation has limited examination. Furthermore, most researchers utilized one main software package while utilization of information exchange formats (IEF) is limited. To increase interoperability of green BIM tools, how different BIM authoring tools and IEFs can be utilized for BPA requires further investigation.

A Review and Scientometric Analysis of Global Building Information Modeling (BIM) Research in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry

: In the recent decade, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has widely been adopted in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry and completely upended the way we build. While BIM continues gain momentum in the industry, it has also attracted increasing attention from researchers. However, most of the current study focuses on reviewing BIM for management, BIM for green building, BIM for infrastructure and BIM for Facilities Management (FM). There are few studies about Global BIM review and to discuss their complex inter-connections. In this study, we adopted a scientometric analysis method to review global BIM research during 2004–2019. In total, 1455 scholarly bibliographic records obtained from Web of Science Core Collection database were established for the analysis. This study has identified the top productive and influential researchers, research institutes, regions/countries, subject categories and journals in the BIM field. In addition, 11 clusters of global BIM research were also identified including construction project, green BIM, construction safety planning, automated IFC-based workflow and so on. The authors distinguished 11 clusters of global BIM research into three stages, namely formulating stage, accelerating stage and transforming stage. Furthermore, the authors reviewed the BIM policy of Singapore and observed there is a co-production relationship between evolution of BIM policy and global BIM research. These findings provide valuable information for researchers, practitioners and policymakers by visualizing the current progress in the research field of BIM and highlighting future research needs.

USE OF GREEN BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING IN THE ASSESSMENT OF NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING DESIGN

In the face of extreme climate, Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs) represent a very high standard of building energy conservation. The design of NZEBs requires continuous design improvement and analysis in a decision-making process that seeks to meet energy conservation goals. This paper recommends the use of green Building Information Modelling (BIM) to support the design of zero-energy buildings. The design of NZEBs requires two sets of tasks: First, it requires determination of whether the building will offer high-energy efficiency, and, second, it lacks the installation of sufficient renewable energy equipment to meet the building’s load needs. After drawing on the spirit of the United States’ Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and considering the current situation in Taiwan, this paper recommends the use of electricity Energy Usage Intensity as a measurement unit providing a holistic indicator of energy usage and takes optimized energy performance as a performance target for various solutions. This study demonstrated procedural steps in the application of green BIM and analyzed restrictions on the implementation of green BIM to the analysis of NZEB design.

Green BIM Assessment Applying for Energy Consumption and Comfort in the Traditional Public Market: A Case Study

This study focused on the energy consumption and environmental comfort of the traditional Xindian Central Public Retail Market. Established for more than 30 years, the market has been a crucial role in the daily life of local residents. Thus, the energy consumption and comfort level of the market are subjects of great concern. By using green building information modeling (BIM) simulation, which is an innovative assessment process that combines green buildings and BIM for the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries to achieve sustainability, this study explored the current situation of energy efficiency and comfort level of the market. A green BIM model of the market and surrounding area was constructed in Autodesk Revit. Subsequently, nine items pertaining to energy consumption and environmental comfort were selected from the green BIM model to conduct simulation by using the software package Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IES VE). Based on the IES VE simulation results, heat radiation was identified as one of the main causes of energy consumption in the market. Moreover, the results indicated problems of ventilation and insufficient sunlight inside the market. These analytical outcomes and optimization suggestions can be provided as references for retrofitting to obtain sustainable architectures in future.

Green building information modelling technology adoption for existing buildings in Sri Lanka. Facilities management perspective

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to develop a framework for the implementation of Green BIM technology for existing buildings in Sri Lankan context. A multiple case study was conducted under a qualitative research approach. Two existing buildings were selected for the cases. Autodesk Revit was used to design the BIM models of the cases. As Green BIM techniques solar analysis and energy analysis were conducted using Green Building Studio simulation software. Solar simulation results included cumulative insolation as 463,825 and 480,538 kwh, PV energy production as 231,659 and 111,024 kwh/year, energy savings as $34,749 and $16,654 and pay pack periods as 18.5 and 15 years for case 01 and 02, respectively. Further, research revealed the challenges during the application of Green BIM for existing buildings when building data are not adequately available. Moreover, this study proposed the solutions that are taken during the study to overcome the challenges. This study justifies the potential of Green BIM implementation for existing buildings through an in-depth analysis of challenges and possible solutions with a framework that can be used. This encourages building owners and facility managers towards using Green BIM for existing buildings.