Abstract:
This study aims to mitigate the environmental impact of the construction industry by integrating Building Information Modelling (BIM) with Circular Economy (CE) principles. The construction industry faces a significant challenge due to a lack of digital tools and collaborative platforms for managing materials throughout a building's life, hindering efficient material utilization and sustainability efforts. In this research, Python and Microsoft Visual Studio were employed to link Autodesk Revit with Google Cloud and introduced a bidirectional data sharing process. Additionally, it integrated Material Passports (MPs) within BIM models, promoting data sharing and collaborative CE practices. A case-study was conducted to check the efficacy of the developed prototype in a real-world project of NEOM city. The prototype demonstrated a framework for using wood material related MP within a BIM model to project stakeholders. Following case study, twelve industry experts validated the developed prototype named BIM-Circular Economy System (BIM-CES) through a demonstration followed by a semi-structured interview and further analyzed using Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA). IPA revealed that BIM-CES effectively addresses key issues of lack of collaboration, technological solutions, technical skills, and circular design, ranking high in both importance and performance. BIM-CES represents a novel approach in bridging the gap between BIM and CE, introducing a new method for digitizing material passports for data sharing and enhancing collaboration among BIM designers.
