Search Results (861)

The integration of advanced terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) techniques into building information modelling (BIM) workflows has significantly enhanced the digitization and preservation of cultural heritage sites. In this context, crowdsourcing can operate as a complementary upstream mechanism for enriching heritage inventories, supporting participatory mapping, collecting preliminary condition observations, and prioritizing assets for subsequent expert-led TLS acquisition, HBIM modelling, and structural assessment. This paper explores the application of TLS within BIM for the structural assessment and the long-term monitoring of historic structures. The reviewed studies show how high-resolution TLS data can support the development and updating of geometry-informed structural models, enabling detailed structural assessment and effective management strategies. The reviewed case studies demonstrate the practical benefits of integrating TLS with BIM, such as improved accuracy in structural assessments, enhanced data processing capabilities, and the creation of comprehensive digital twins. These advancements facilitate better-informed decision-making and targeted preventive measures, contributing to the resilience and preservation of cultural heritage assets. The results underscore the contribution of TLS–BIM/HBIM workflows to condition-informed documentation, structural assessment, conservation planning, and long-term heritage management. This research was supported by the ERA4CH project, which aims to protect European cities’ cultural heritage from earthquake risks through innovative monitoring and management tools. Full article

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has become a central paradigm in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, enabling integrated management of design and construction data. Accessibility standards are essential to ensure inclusive and usable built environments, yet manual verification of ISO 21542:2021 criteria in BIM models is time-consuming and error-prone. Following the formal standardization of the Information Delivery Specification (IDS) in 2024, this study investigates its potential for systematic accessibility validation. Using the Design Science Research methodology, ISO 21542 door requirements were translated into IDS format and applied to the Urla Summer Villa case. The workflow integrated IDS Maker for XML rule definition, ArchiCAD for BIM, and BIMvision with the IDS Checker plugin for automated validation. The evaluation revealed an overall compliance rate of 50%, with non-compliances in door width, height, threshold, and handle parameters. Results indicate that IDS can detect accessibility inconsistencies early, provide transparent reporting, and strengthen quality assurance in BIM-based design processes. This study contributes to expanding the limited corpus of accessibility-focused IDS applications and highlights IDS as a practical tool for advancing inclusive design practices within digital construction workflows. The study is limited to a single case and door elements only, within a specific software ecosystem. Future research should extend IDS-based accessibility validation to ramps, stairs, elevators, and diverse BIM platforms to strengthen generalizability. Full article

This study develops a survey-based and procedure-oriented guideline for the application of drones in the supervision of reinforced concrete works to address the limitations of conventional supervision methods, including limited accessibility, safety risks, and subjectivity in inspection. Data were collected through a literature review and an expert survey and were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The results identified key considerations for drone implementation, including regulatory compliance, clarification of expected effects and return on investment (ROI), integration with building information modeling (BIM), drone safety functions, operator competence, and data quality. Drones were perceived to be particularly suitable for construction processes requiring precise inspection in high-elevation or hard-to-access areas. Based on these findings, a five-phase drone-based supervision guideline was proposed, consisting of pre-planning, data acquisition, data analysis, inspection review and corrective action, and post-management. This study presents a survey-based, procedure-oriented framework that can support the objectivity and safety of construction supervision and highlights the need for future validation through pilot applications in actual construction projects. Full article

In construction project management, the execution phase relies on deterministic scheduling methods that cannot represent activity-level uncertainty or support quantitative corrective-action testing before physical commitment. This study presents a conceptual framework and proof-of-concept application that addresses this gap by integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM) with the COSMOS Simulator—a construction-specific discrete-event engine benchmarked against industry simulators in prior work. The framework formalizes a semi-automated pipeline from Autodesk Revit through Dynamo BIM to COSMOS via a governed parameter store, converting BIM-derived quantity takeoffs into stochastic simulation inputs. This study makes two contributions: The first is the development of a governed BIM-to-simulation data pipeline in which an identifier-keyed data contract and in-flow validation establish an auditable chain of custody from design element to simulation input. The second is an advancement toward addressing a limitation the engine’s own validation studies identify—execution-phase site–data integration—through a control loop that couples Earned Value Analysis in a 4D BIM environment (Synchro) with iterative COSMOS-based scenario testing, enabling managers to evaluate corrective actions quantitatively before site implementation. Feasibility is demonstrated on an illustrative reinforced concrete building schedule, in which a schedule-performance shortfall triggers the loop and stochastic forecasting exposes an upper-tail completion risk hidden by the deterministic estimate. By establishing a governed pathway from BIM to the previously BIM-isolated COSMOS engine, this work provides a basis from which field-based evaluation of BIM-integrated stochastic project control can proceed. Full article

Common Data Environments (CDEs) have become a cornerstone of information management in BIM-enabled construction projects and a key enabler of ISO 19650 implementation. Within the context of sustainable and Smart Construction, CDEs integrate design, construction, and operational information, supporting informed decision-making throughout the building lifecycle. However, their effectiveness depends not only on software capabilities but also on the configuration of processes, roles, permissions, workflows, and information structures. This paper proposes an ISO 19650-compliant CDE implementation framework for university construction projects. The study combines a literature review on CDEs, BIM/FM, HBIM, and information management with two university case studies: a new laboratory and educational building and a specialized facility integrated with a historic campus. Based on the findings, an eight-step implementation model was developed, covering information requirements, CDE structure, information states (WIP, Shared, Published, Archive), roles, metadata, workflows, site data integration, and information audits. A mapping matrix linking ISO 19650 requirements with CDE configuration elements and an issue management workflow are also presented. Exploratory findings from the two case studies indicate that a properly configured CDE can help reduce information-related risks, improve issue management, and enhance decision traceability; these results should be regarded as illustrative and context-dependent rather than statistically generalized. Although environmental impacts were not directly measured, improved information management may indirectly contribute to more efficient resource use and more sustainable university infrastructure management. Full article

The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sector operates increasingly under persistent macroeconomic and supply chain volatility, requiring project organizations to simultaneously achieve delivery efficiency and design innovation. While leadership theory attributes this ambidextrous capability to “integrated leaders” who can enact competing behavioral repertoires in parallel, this assumption remains untested in highly volatile, high-pressure project environments. This study investigates the boundary conditions of integrated leadership theory and examines structurally enabled temporal sequencing as an alternative explanation for organizational ambidexterity. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design in the Turkish AEC sector (Phase 1 Survey: N = 278; Phase 2 Interviews: N = 32), we examined how building information modeling (BIM)-enabled digital governance capabilities and organizational tenure predict organizational ambidexterity, including a moderation analysis examining whether industry volatility conditions the effect of integrated leadership. Phase 1 ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and exploratory machine learning stress testing revealed that self-reported integrated leadership profiles had limited predictive utility for ambidexterity (β = 0.035, p = 0.751) and that industry volatility did not significantly moderate this relationship. Conversely, digital governance capability (β = 0.462, p < 0.001) and organizational tenure (β = 0.205, p < 0.01) emerged as consistent structural predictors even after controlling for firm size, industry volatility, project type, and project duration. Phase 2 qualitative findings help explain this predictive pattern by suggesting that, under persistent volatility, attempts to enact simultaneous behavioral integration may generate cognitive overload and execution friction. Instead, participants described project-level ambidexterity as emerging through temporal sequencing and an alternating focus between exploration and exploitation, supported by digital coordination systems that externalize workflows and relational networks associated with longer organizational tenure. Taken together, the findings suggest structurally enabled temporal sequencing as a theoretically derived, qualitatively supported, and interpretive explanation of how organizational ambidexterity may emerge under persistent volatility, rather than as an empirically established mechanism. Full article

Building Information Modeling-based (BIM) Digital Twins (DT) are increasingly adopted to support sustainable building management; however, the growing body of secondary literature—systematic reviews, surveys, and bibliometric studies—remains methodologically fragmented and lacks a consolidated tertiary synthesis. This fragmentation prevents researchers and practitioners from identifying consistent guidelines, validated frameworks, and comparable software ecosystems across the field. To address this gap, this study conducts a tertiary review of 57 secondary studies published between 2018 and 2025, following Kitchenham and Charters’ evidence-based guidelines and the PICOC framework. Data extraction and comparative analysis were conducted across seven criteria, including methodological approaches, proposed frameworks, enabling technologies, software tools, and reported limitations. The results reveal that bibliometric analyses and systematic literature reviews dominate the field, with few yielding structured frameworks and taxonomies; nearly half of the reviewed studies do not assess specific software platforms. Artificial intelligence and the internet of things are among the most widely studied enabling technologies, primarily associated with energy management, predictive maintenance, and structural monitoring, yet their integration with BIM-based DT platforms is inconsistently documented. The findings expose persistent interoperability constraints, insufficient data governance structures, limited maturity models, and a lack of large-scale empirical validation—gaps that this tertiary synthesis maps and prioritizes to guide future research toward reproducible, scalable, and sustainability-oriented DT implementations in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector. Full article

The construction industry in Jordan faces significant economic and environmental challenges due to high material costs, fluctuating market prices, and the continued reliance on a linear economy model that prioritizes material extraction, consumption, and disposal over reuse and recycling. These challenges contribute to substantial construction waste generation and hinder the transition toward a Circular Economy (CE). Therefore, this study aimed to develop a framework for managing construction waste during the construction phase of residential building projects in Jordan and to facilitate the adoption of circular practices within the construction sector. A questionnaire survey was administered to 31 experts, and the collected data were analyzed using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Subsequently, the proposed framework was evaluated through a three-round Delphi study involving an independent panel of experts. The results identified the principal barriers to implementation as the low demand for reused or recycled materials, limited stakeholder awareness, and difficulties in material disassembly. The findings further revealed that applying visual management and 5S techniques to improve site efficiency, implementing Building Information Modeling (BIM) for material and component mapping throughout the building life cycle, and providing tax incentives and grants for recycled materials were among the highest-ranked sub-strategies for supporting circular practices and minimizing construction waste. The Delphi evaluation demonstrated strong expert consensus regarding the framework’s applicability and practicality, indicating that it provides a structured, expert-informed approach that may assist policymakers and construction practitioners in promoting circular practices and reducing construction waste in Jordan. In addition, the framework has the potential to support Jordan’s Vision 2025 and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Full article

Integratingartificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Building Information Modeling (BIM) holds considerable promise for modernizing construction management, yet a unified real-time framework connecting these technologies for heavy civil earthmoving remains lacking. This paper presents BIM-iDT, a BIM-Integrated Digital Twin framework that couples multi-source IoT sensing with an IFC-based BIM model to enable intelligent fleet coordination and automated progress control. The research follows a design-science methodology comprising framework formulation, modular development, field deployment, and multi-project validation. The framework comprises a heterogeneous sensor fusion layer aligning GPS, IMU, fuel-consumption, and LiDAR data within the BIM coordinate system; a spatio-temporal graph attention network (ST-GAT) that recognizes equipment states and predicts short-horizon productivity by modeling fleet-level spatial dependencies; a temporal point cloud differencing module that quantifies cut/fill volumes against BIM design surfaces; and a constrained multi-objective evolutionary optimizer (CMOEO) that generates Pareto-optimal dispatch plans balancing fuel, cycle time, utilization, and schedule adherence. Validation on a highway project with instrumented machines shows that ST-GAT achieves a macro-averaged F1 of 0.943, volume MAPE stays below 3%, and CMOEO reduces fuel consumption by 12.6% and cycle time by 9.3% while maintaining schedule adherence above 96%, yielding an estimated 168-ton CO₂ emission reduction. End-to-end latency averages 600 ms, satisfying real-time requirements. Cross-project transfer experiments on a secondary dam construction site further confirm framework generalizability, establishing BIM-iDT as a scalable paradigm for AI-and-IoT-enabled smart construction in infrastructure engineering. Full article

The rapid development of Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) has transformed digital models of historic buildings from design-support tools into long-term information assets used for documentation, conservation, and heritage management. Despite their growing importance, issues related to copyright protection, intellectual property rights, and data exchange remain insufficiently addressed in both research and professional practice. This study examines the legal status of HBIM models under European Union, especially Polish, copyright law and identifies challenges associated with licensing and interoperability in BIM environments. The research combines a doctrinal analysis of copyright legislation, a review of BIM and HBIM literature, an examination of information management standards, and a case study of an HBIM project developed for a listed historic property of the University of Wrocław. The findings indicate that HBIM models may qualify as copyright-protected works, most often of a joint authorship nature, requiring clear regulation of economic rights, derivative works, and model updates throughout the lifecycle of a heritage asset. The study also reveals a gap between technical and legal interoperability, as the IFC format does not consistently preserve information concerning authorship, licensing conditions, and revision history during data exchange. The results highlight the need to integrate copyright considerations into contractual arrangements, Common Data Environment (CDE) management, and metadata structures to support the lawful and sustainable long-term use of HBIM models in cultural heritage conservation. Full article

A persistent barrier to BIM-based whole-life carbon assessment (WLCA) and circularity assessment is uncertainty whether and to what extent exchanged Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) models contain relevant information needed to parameterise inventory inputs. Without explicit readiness checks, missing or generic semantics may only become apparent during dataset mapping, leading to reliance on undocumented assumptions. This paper proposes an early-stage framework for assessing the information exchange readiness of IFC building models for WLCA inventory preparation and selected circularity-oriented interpretation. The framework structures checks into progressive levels: L1 element identification and classification, L2 geometry and quantity availability, and L3 material definition and property assignment, producing coverage metrics and categorical issue records. L4a and L4b are defined as conceptual extensions toward broader decision-support information for whole-life carbon reporting and end-of-life management. Prototype implementation reports information gaps affecting element inclusion, including incomplete property definitions, assignments, material specifications, and missing quantity data. To support fairer comparison across heterogeneous element subcategories, based on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Whole Life Carbon Assessment 2.0 standard, the framework applies assessment relative to what is relevant for each of the subcategories. The study indicates that transparent, level-based IFC exchange-readiness assessment can support more traceable WLCA inventory preparation and circularity-oriented interpretation by making unmet information requirements explicit. Full article

In the current Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector, the demand for a skilled workforce capable of responding to rapidly changing needs is increasing. However, academic programs are struggling to keep up with this transformation. The integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) tools into design studios and the objective evaluation of the pedagogical outcomes of this process are not yet fully clear. This study develops a pedagogical evaluation framework to integrate professional BIM competencies into architectural design studio curricula. This framework aims to measure student competency development and guide the restructuring of academic programs for BIM-supported education. A mixed methodology was adopted in the research; utilizing a combination of purposive and convenience sampling techniques, the studio performances, submission processes, and survey data of 409 students studying in architecture and interior architecture departments over a four-year period were analyzed longitudinally using the developed measurement-evaluation model. The proposed framework serves to pedagogically grade students’ in-studio performance and to measure acquired competencies with structured criteria. The qualitative data obtained from the surveys were analyzed through thematic and content analysis. The research revealed that students possessed limited technical skills in BIM projects and experienced deficiencies in collaboration and data management. Furthermore, it determined that instructors’ lack of knowledge regarding integrating BIM into the curriculum negatively impacted students’ learning processes. This study recommended enhancing teacher training for BIM-supported education, improving collaboration and coordination skills, and aligning the curriculum with professional requirements. The findings provide a framework that not only better prepares students for professional life but also helps bridge the gap between education and industry. Through this framework, students’ competencies can be measured at the pedagogical level. Full article

This paper examines how Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry approach Building Information Modeling (BIM) adoption in a context marked by slow uptake and market fragmentation, with reflections on the Portuguese context. BIM is internationally recognized as a technology that can improve project coordination, productivity, and information management, but its level and patterns of use vary widely. Based on a structured exploratory literature review and an interpretive scoring framework, this paper identifies challenges and enabling factors associated with BIM adoption in SMEs. The findings suggest that BIM adoption should not be understood as a simple technological change; rather, it can be interpreted as a complex socio-technical process shaped by interdependence among technical, financial, organizational, and human dimensions. This study conceptualizes fragmentation in the construction industry as a reinforcing condition that may amplify barriers and help explain why many implementation approaches have limited effectiveness. Given this context, SME progression may require incremental, context-adapted approaches based on collaboration, information management, and capacity-building initiatives. This article contributes an exploratory conceptual framework for understanding BIM adoption in economically constrained and difficult-to-transform environments. It provides a basis for future empirical studies and SME-oriented strategies, including potential applications within the Portuguese construction sector. Full article

The final stage of urban logistics does not end at the building entrance but continues within complex, vertically structured indoor environments, where conventional ground-based delivery systems face limitations in efficiency, flexibility, and scalability. This study introduces the concept of last-meter delivery, defined as unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled transport from the building envelope to the recipient within global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-denied, building-regulated indoor space, and systematically reviews the literature from two traditionally separate domains: indoor-UAV operation in GNSS-denied spaces, and outdoor-UAV-based logistics. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, 297 studies are synthesized through a two-stream thematic synthesis. The review makes three contributions. First, a unified analytical framework is developed across four dimensions (spatial mobility, logistical capability, social acceptance, and operational coordination) through which the two bodies of literature are shown to be largely complementary, with the gaps in one stream coinciding with the strengths of the other. Second, indoor aerial delivery is found to be subject to a distinct set of operational constraints, including micro-scale navigation accuracy, strict geometric safety envelopes, close human–UAV interaction, and privacy sensitivity, implying that indoor transport-UAVs cannot be realized through simple miniaturization of outdoor platforms but require precision-oriented, human-centric, and building-aware design. Third, the four dimensions are translated into a building-management-oriented indicator framework covering spatial compliance, handover standardization, building information modeling (BIM) integration, occupant consent, and liability allocation, reframing last-meter requirements in terms that are actionable for building planners and facility managers. By framing these challenges within the last-meter perspective, this review identifies the gap between current last-mile theories and emerging in-building aerial logistics and provides a structured foundation for future research. Full article

Driven by China’s green and low-carbon development strategy, sustainable urban construction has become a crucial issue in the construction industry. In recent years, building information modeling (BIM) has been widely applied in the construction industry due to its advantages in information management, project coordination, and construction optimization. Although numerous studies have explored the application of BIM in sustainable construction, existing research findings are scattered across different research topics and project stages. Therefore, it is still necessary to develop a clearer understanding of the BIM functions that can support sustainable urban construction and their practical applications, especially in the context of China’s construction industry. To address this issue, this study provides a systematic literature review of BIM functions related to sustainable urban construction. Using the PRISMA framework, this study identified and analyzed relevant research to examine the main BIM functions reported in the literature, their application methods, and their contributions to sustainable urban construction. The review identified twelve main BIM functions, including 3D modeling and visualization, data management, multi-party collaboration, cost control, schedule optimization, environmental management, and construction safety management. Based on published research, this study further explores the potential relationships between different BIM functions and proposes several conceptual frameworks to clarify how to integrate these functions in sustainable urban construction. The research results indicate that BIM can support sustainable urban development through information integration, lifecycle coordination, data-driven decision-making, and optimized project management. These findings also provide a reference for the future implementation of BIM and the promotion of sustainable urban development in China, especially in the context of digital transformation and green development in the construction industry. Full article