Optimising building sustainability assessment using BIM

• Published in: Automation in construction 2019-06, Vol.102, p.170-182
• Main Authors: Carvalho, José Pedro, Bragança, Luís, Mateus, Ricardo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Building information modelling (BIM); Building management systems; Building sustainability assessment (BSA); Construction industry; Environmental impact; Optimization; SBTool; Sustainability
• ISSN: 0926-5805; 1872-7891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2019.02.021

The construction industry is responsible for various negative impacts on the environment leading to an increasing demand for sustainable buildings. There are several Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) methods that allow designers to assess and optimise the building sustainability level. Due to the potential of Building Information Modelling (BIM), the opportunity for BSA methods to adopt and benefit from BIM arises. Despite the benefits in the approach simplification for assessing building sustainability, so far the method has not been used comprehensively in the evaluation process. This paper analyses how using BIM can contribute to optimising BSA methods, focusing on the SBToolPT-H. BIM applicability is assessed and a framework for a BIM-based application – SBToolBIM – is proposed. BIM is still not oriented to sustainable building, but it has great potential. For the SBToolPT-H, results show that it is possible to directly and indirectly assess 24 out of 25 criteria using BIM. •The Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) can be simplified using BIM.•BIM is not oriented to support sustainable building but has great potential.•Different BIM softwares are necessary for BSA.•BIM can be used to assess most of the sustainability criteria of SBToolPT-H.•Further developments are needed for BIM methodology to integrate BSA methods.