BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM) TOWARDS FOSTERING CIRCULAR AND SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION (CIRCULAR BIM)

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to study the circular economy (CE) model in construction, sustainability, and the utilization of building information modeling (BIM) to support decision making on building component circularity and sustainability based on their ranking by the use the power of BIM software and management workflow. An analysis of a real-world project with requirements of BIM implementation, the circular economy concept of design for disassembly, and sustainability requirements in Qatar. Developed BIM model and management documents were created to experience the findings and results of the analysis of the real project. In addition to a well-structure survey designed to identify the gaps in practice of sustainability, CE, and BIM utilization in the construction industry. The observations, analysis results, BIM developed project model and survey results were used to develop a recommended best practice workflow model; to utilize BIM management and modeling software and workflow in supporting the measurement and record of the circularity of the designed and constructed asset. This was studied to help decision makers to make better sustainable and circular economy decision during the design and construction stages of the project. The results show that following a developed BIM utilization workflow and the addition of circularity and sustainability parameters within the BIM management documents and models of the project from the early stages of the project, would have huge impact on the circularity and sustainability decisions by the stakeholders. Consequently, this will lead to building better assets aligned to the circular economy and sustainability development goals in construction industry projects.