Search Results (38)

At present, the construction industry has not yet fully optimized the integration of the potential of big data. Past studies signaled the potential benefits of integrating building information management (BIM) and big data in the field of sustainable building management (SBM). However, these studies have a monotonous perspective in identifying the development of BIM and big data applications in SBM. Therefore, this paper aims to explore BIM and big data from various perspectives in the field of SBM to identify the aspects where additional efforts are required and provide insights into future directions, and it adopts a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative analysis, including bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping, providing a macro-overview of the research status and development trends of BIM and big data integration for SBM from multiple bibliometric perspectives. The results indicate the following: (1) the current studies on BIM and big data integration (BBi)-aided SBM mainly focused on data integration and interoperability for collaboration, development of information technologies and emerging technologies, data analysis and presentation, and green building and sustainability assessment; (2) the longitudinal analysis of three time-slice phases (2010–2014, 2015–2018, and 2019–2024) over the past 15 years indicates that the studies on BBi-aided SBM have been expanded from the application of BIM in construction projects to the integration and interoperability of BIM with information technology, the integration of virtual models with physical buildings, and sustainable management throughout the building life cycle stages; and (3) key research gaps and emerging directions include data integration and model interoperability across the building life cycle, model transferability in the application of technology, and a comprehensive sustainability assessment framework based on the whole building life cycle stages. Full article

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) of higher education (HE) buildings significantly impacts the built environment sector. This research aimed to optimize learning environments and enhance student comfort, especially post-COVID-19. The study adopts the principles of Post-occupancy Evaluation (POE) to collect and analyze various quantitative and qualitative data through environmental data monitoring, a user perceptions survey, and semi-structured interviews with professionals. Although the environmental conditions generally met existing standards, the findings indicated opportunities for further improvements to better support university communities’ comfort and health. A significant challenge identified by this research is the inability of the facility management to physically manage and operate the vast and complex spaces within HE buildings with contemporary IEQ standards. In response to these findings, this research developed a BIM-based prototype for the real-time monitoring and automated control of IEQ. The prototype integrates a BIM model with Arduino-linked sensors, motors, and traffic lights, with the latter visually indicating IEQ status, while motors automatically adjust environmental conditions based on sensor inputs. The outcomes of this study not only contribute to the ongoing discourse on sustainable building management, especially post-pandemic, but also demonstrate an advancement in the application of BIM technologies to improve IEQ and by extension, occupant wellbeing in HE buildings. Full article

In Japan and China, the construction industries make significant contributions to GDP (gross domestic product). Due to different socioeconomic backgrounds, the construction industries in both countries face different challenges. Recently, Japan’s and China’s construction industries have been focusing on the active development of BIM (building information modeling) technology. Recognized for its unique advantages, BIM technology is considered by both countries as an innovative tool that can be used to resolve industry bottlenecks. This paper presents a comparative study on the application of BIM technology in the construction industries of Japan and China, covering five dimensions: development status, policy framework, specific case applications, SWOT analysis, and awareness in higher education. The results indicate that BIM development in both countries is at a broadly similar stage. However, differences in their construction industries have led to distinct strengths and limitations in BIM application. China holds a comparative advantage in policy-driven promotion, while Japan excels in lifecycle management and operational sustainability. Nevertheless, BIM implementation in China tends to be formalistic, whereas Japan needs to enhance its efforts in BIM education. This study discusses improvement measures and complementary strategies based on these differences, aiming to address existing research gaps and underscore their significance in advancing BIM technologies as well as the construction industries of both countries. Full article

The deconstruction of a building marks the end of its life cycle. At the same time, this phase offers many opportunities for the acquisition and reuse of used building materials. During the deconstruction phase, planning and execution are carried out using a variety of different software applications. Despite the use of digital 3D models according to the Building Information Modeling (BIM) method, there is no interoperability along the value chain in the deconstruction of a building. To counteract the lack of interoperability in the deconstruction phase of buildings, the article develops an ontology for the formalization of knowledge within the deconstruction phase and the usability of heterogeneous data sets in connection with the 3D BIM model. After assessing the status quo on the topic of BIM in deconstruction and ontologies in building construction, the systematic development of the deconstruction ontology (DCO) and its validation on a demonstrator is conducted. The result is the presentation of the basic usability of ontologies in conjunction with graphical databases and digital 3D models in the deconstruction phase. This ensures interoperability along the value chain and counteracts data loss. Full article

This paper explores the current application status and development trends of intelligent construction technologies in modern timber structures in China. By using VOSviewer software for bibliometric analysis, the research focused on three key areas: BIM technology, machine vision, and lifecycle information management. The study found that BIM technology has significantly improved the design accuracy and construction efficiency of timber buildings through 3D visualization, parametric design, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Machine vision technology enhances the quality control and damage assessment efficiency through automation. Lifecycle information management promotes the sustainable development of timber buildings in line with carbon neutrality goals. The paper further analyzes the challenges and difficulties of applying intelligent construction technologies to modern timber structures and proposes the development of technology solutions tailored to the characteristics of timber structures, including deepening the integration with environmental science and urban planning and enhancing user feedback optimization. These studies provide new perspectives for the intelligent and low-carbon development of timber buildings and offer support for achieving sustainability goals and carbon neutrality. Full article

Due to its advantages, Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology has been widely accepted and developed globally. BIM is transforming traditional construction methods and enabling the resolution of issues such as labor shortages, overwork, and rising costs, which the Japanese construction industry faces. In Japan, there is an active push to promote the application of BIM technology; however, its widespread adoption is encountering numerous challenges and barriers. Although BIM technology has been applied and developed globally, there is still a lack of systematic analysis on the specific challenges and strategies of its implementation in the Japanese construction industry. This study reviews the literature on the application of BIM worldwide and surveys stakeholders in the Japanese construction industry, examining strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. By integrating Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and SWOT analysis, this research prioritizes these factors, assesses their impact on the diffusion of BIM technology, and provides in-depth analysis and insights for the promotion and development of BIM technology in Japan. Full article

Increasing efforts have been devoted to promoting sustainable demolition waste management (DWM) from a life cycle thinking perspective. To this end, facilitating sustainability-oriented decision-making for DWM planning requires a sustainability assessment framework for assessing the trade-offs among multifaceted criteria. This study develops a BIM-based DWM sustainability assessment approach to facilitate the life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) and decision-making by integrating LCSA-related properties and hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Aiding (MCDA) methods into a BIM environment using Dynamo visual scripting. A dynamic linkage is developed in the streamlined BIM-based LCSA process, where the enriched Industry Foundation Class (IFC) models are coupled with custom LCSA data templates to achieve seamless data exchange between the BIM platform and external LCA tools. Subsequently, hybrid MCDA methods convert the assessment results into DWM scenario ranking. A pilot study verifies the applicability of the BIM-based framework. The results unveil that the sustainability score ascended with the recycling rate. The optimal DWM alternative with the highest recycling rate yields the highest sustainability score at 91.63. Conversely, a DWM alternative reflecting the ‘status quo’ in China’s recycling industry has the lowest score at 8.37, significantly lower than the baseline scenario with a 50% recycling rate. It is worth noting that the ‘growth curve’ of the sustainability score continuously flattens as the target recycling rate escalates. The increment in recycling rate from the “Australian standard” scenario to the optimal scenario is 18.4%, whereas the sustainability score merely increases by 2.3%, implying that the former scenario arrived at an optimum point for maximising the cost-efficiency of DWM under the predefined settings. Full article

This study provides an in-depth analysis of the current status of the promotion and application of BIM software in China, highlighting its differences from the international market. Chinese BIM software shows advantages in data security, cost-effectiveness, user habit adaptability, and localization standards, but faces challenges in terms of technological maturity and ecosystem development. By employing bibliometric methods and utilizing literature resources from CNKI and the Web of Science, the study offers a comprehensive analysis of the market and policy environment and proposes targeted recommendations. The study indicates that Chinese BIM software has significant advantages in enhancing data security and cost-effectiveness but lacks technological maturity and requires improvements in ecosystem development. User habits are crucial for the promotion of BIM software, and the localization and adaptability of the software need further enhancement. To promote the widespread application of BIM in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries, a robust market mechanism needs to be established. The government should strengthen policy support and improve regulatory frameworks; software developers should enhance product functionality and work closely with users; and application enterprises should actively provide feedback to promote software improvements. Moreover, the introduction of reasonable capital and the collaboration between educational institutions and enterprises to cultivate professional talent are critical for the promotion and application of BIM technology. The research emphasizes that forming a cross-departmental joint mechanism to promote a virtuous cycle in the AEC market is key to achieving the widespread application of BIM technology. These measures can provide strong market impetus for the development of BIM software, accelerate the maturity and ecosystem construction of Chinese BIM software, and ultimately realize the comprehensive upgrading of informatization and digitization in the construction industry. Full article

Research currently focuses on immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). However, there is limited exploration of their application in sustainable smart cities with Building Information Modeling (BIM), and there remains a lack of interdisciplinary integration within this domain aimed at fostering sustainable smart city development. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the development status of immersive technology and BIM in sustainable smart cities, identifying trends and research hotspots by employing a triangulation research method mixed with a quantitative method via bibliometric analysis and a qualitative method via content analysis to investigate the relationship between immersive technologies and BIM in sustainable smart cities. The results reveal a fragmented nature in the research on immersive technology and BIM in sustainable smart cities, with rapidly changing hotspots and new technologies following a cyclical pattern every 3 to 5 years. Two distinct cycles of growth were observed in the field over the last 10 years (2014–2023). The first cycle, from 2014 to 2017, represented modest growth, while the second cycle, from 2018 to 2022, showed rapid expansion, with the keywords AR, VR, MR, BIM, smart city, and smart city concept indicating the research hotspots. Immersive technologies and BIM, developed since 2017, have contributed to sustainable smart city construction. The emerging keywords AR, MR, and 360-degree VR have become research hotspots since 2021, particularly in collaborative construction. Future research trends include artificial intelligence, digitalization, AR, and MR, while building sustainability and intelligent construction have emerged as real-world applications. Additionally, this paper employs software tools to generate multidimensional knowledge maps to form a knowledge universe map at a “macro-knowledge” level followed by a “micro-knowledge” level comprising a standard knowledge system, such as lifecycle analysis, enhancing the objectivity and organization of the results and providing innovative references for future research. Full article

With the rapid development of underground space, the issue of safety in construction processes is becoming more and more significant. The purpose of this paper is to solve the problem of the existing underground space monitoring technology not being centralized and unified. In view of the problems related to large underground spaces in the process of constructing complex structures, with the introduction of Internet of Things technology and digital twins, we put forward an application of an intelligent safety-monitoring digital twin system in the construction of a large underground space structure, and at the same time, explore the Internet and digital integration mechanism of the twin system. The twin system uses BIM technology to establish the corresponding physical construction model, and collects multi-source heterogeneous monitoring data in real time through Internet of Things technology to achieve the exchange of information between the virtual construction model and the physical construction model. The twin system uses the multi-source heterogeneous data for real-time security analysis, and obtains the security status of the structure and feeds it back to the application service layer. The effectiveness and practicability of the twin system in large underground spaces are verified by an example project. Aiming at the safe performance of the orthogonal arch, the mapping relationship of various parameter indexes is obtained, and reasonable control measures are given. This study provides a new solution for improving the safety of construction projects and risk prevention and control, and has important theoretical and practical value for the safety management of underground space construction processes. Full article

The pre-tender cost estimation serves as the foundation for determining the project cost in the early stages and is crucial for all parties involved in the tendering process. It is expected to be highly accurate. However, industry surveys have advocated that in the Iranian construction industry, the pre-tender estimated costs of construction projects are not sufficiently accurate during the bidding stage. Building information modelling (BIM) technology is a modern digital tool deployed in the construction industry that has seen substantial growth of application. It employs useful tools in different sectors and has extended its involvement in various stages of the project lifecycle, including feasibility studies, planning, design, construction, and operation and maintenance. This study examines and assesses the status of BIM development in Iran for its applicability in the pre-tender cost estimating process in construction projects. The findings of this study indicate that while there is a limited number of Iranian building projects’ BIM models that possess the required quality and capabilities for BIM-based cost estimation, the results obtained are more precise when compared to existing manual methods. Additionally, utilising BIM-based cost estimation significantly reduces the time required for this process by enhancing the speed of cost estimation operations. An innovative evaluation framework for assessing the quality and functionalities of BIM models is presented, which improves the accuracy of cost estimation before the bidding process in Iran’s construction industry. The research findings demonstrate the enhanced accuracy and effectiveness of BIM as compared to conventional approaches. It also suggests the incorporation of AI technology for model evaluation, which has the potential to become an established global industry standard. Full article

Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs), as the most recognized data schema for Building Information Modeling (BIM), are increasingly combined with ontology to facilitate data interoperability across the whole lifecycle in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management (AEC/FM). This paper conducts a bibliometric analysis of 122 papers from the perspective of data, model, and application to summarize the modes of IFC and ontology integration (IFCOI). This paper first analyzes the data and models of the integration from IFC data formats and ontology development models to the IfcOWL data model. Next, the application status is summed up from objective and phase dimensions, and four frequent applications with maturity are identified. Based on the aforementioned multi-dimensional analysis, three integration modes are summarized, taking into account various data interoperability requirements. Accordingly, ontology behaves as the representation of domain knowledge, an enrichment tool for IFC model semantics, and a linkage between IFC data and other heterogeneous data. Finally, this paper points out the challenges and opportunities for IFCOI in the data, domain ontology, and integration process and proposes a building lifecycle management model based on IFCOI. Full article

Despite the growing rich and fragmented literature focusing on quality assurance (QA) and Industry 4.0, the implementation of associated individual digital technologies has not been fully evaluated and synthesised to achieve adequate QA in the construction industry; hence, it has received limited focus. This study, thus, aimed to organise, evaluate, and synthesise the current literature on individual digital technology applications in QA in the construction industry and propose future research directions. A literature review approach was adopted for this study along with Deming’s cycle framework to address four research questions: (1) What is the status of the state-of-the-art in the literature? (2) What digital technologies have been applied for QA in the construction industry? (3) Which areas in QA processes have experienced digital technology applications, and what are the applications? (4) What are the limitations of the existing studies and future research directions of digital technologies for QA in the construction industry? The findings showed an increasing trend of research on digital technology for QA in construction since 2017. This cuts across 23 countries with six different research methods published across 18 different publication sources. Four categories of digital technologies were revealed to have been adopted for QA in construction based on the functionality of the technologies: data collection technologies, decision-oriented technologies, collaborative technologies, and transparency and security-related technologies. Evaluation with Deming’s cycle framework revealed that digital technologies have a high level of application at the “do” phase, improving the quality management process during construction towards achieving pre-stated quality requirements. This includes mostly collaborative technologies, consisting of BIM technologies. Limitations of the existing studies were further identified, and this led to five research directions: interoperability of technology development, integrated digital technologies for QA of prefabricated and modular construction, integrated digital technologies for QA of cross-border construction logistics and supply chain, digital innovation for sustainable QA, and moving beyond the technical solution. The study showed a significant contribution to both academia and the industry in the built environment. Full article

Achieving efficiency success status inside an organization’s built environment and obtaining a positive return on investments need robust and comprehensive asset management and maintenance processes based on the efficiency of contract information documents within the built asset lifecycle. This paper aims to highlight the appropriate interactive approach for construction projects to build the information flow scope of asset facility management contracts based on GIS (Geographical Information System) and BIM (Building Information Modeling) integration processes and sustainability standards, and project as-built contractual documents to support owners and stakeholders with the intent of improving asset management processes. Expert interviews and contract information flow types in several facility management processes conducted in both local and international facility management organizations were used to assist the information flow scope method. The study classified and built significant integrated information and data flow models for a case study to serve as contract guidelines, including efficiency performance measures and indicators for monitoring procedures, technical evaluation, and financial issues in order to provide high-performance service quality in facility management applications. Full article

At present, increased modes of transport have facilitated daily life. Building information modeling (BIM) integration has become a key strategy to foster efficiency, collaboration, and sustainability in the fields of buildings, transport, and facilities. Currently, there is a scarcity of comprehensive examinations of the performance of integrated BIM with transport facilities and applications to help identify potential prospects for sustainable development. Hence, this research paper attempts to scrutinize the integration of BIM, transportation, and facilities (T and Fs) by highlighting future directions and trends, revealing the existing status and hotspots of research in the field, and clarifying the developmental pulse of research as well as emerging areas in the future. A quantitative research technique is utilized in this study, using VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, and the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. The study findings suggest that the hot keywords for the integration of BIM and T and Fs are predominantly concentrated on construction, framework, system, design, and management. In addition, over the previous 34 years (years 1989 to 2023), the applications of point cloud, digital twin, and life cycle assessment have been the current hot topics, and these emerging technologies can offer more innovative breakthroughs for the future. Furthermore, the integration of BIM and T and Fs represents an important trend that is essential for improving the efficiency, sustainability, and intelligence of buildings and infrastructure, from which the three domains can create synergies that contribute to the better planning, construction, and management of building and infrastructure projects. Full article