Assessment Schemes for Sustainability Design through BIM: Lessons Learnt

¹ Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur
² School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom

^a Corresponding author: wong_pf@um.edu.my

Abstract

There is increasing demand on sustainability-led design to reduce negative impacts brought by construction development. The capability of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to achieve sustainability is widely acknowledged. Various sustainability analysis and calculation can be performed at early stages to help the designers in decision making. However, the level of implementation is still not popular in the construction industry. Many of the industry players are still rely on traditional 2D method for designing and analysis. Hence, this study aims to demonstrate a proof concept of using BIM for sustainability design. The first phase of this study conducted a critical review of existing assessment schemes: BREEAM, LEED, SBTool, CASBEE, BEAM Plus, Green Star, Green Mark and GBI, to develop a set of main criteria to be considered for sustainability design. The findings revealed that fourteen criteria are considered, which are management, sustainable site, transport, indoor environmental quality, energy, waste, water, material, pollution, innovation, economics, social, culture and quality of services. It was found that most of the existing schemes emphasized on environmental aspect as compared to economics, social and culture except SBTool. The next phase of this study will conduct a case study to demonstrate sustainability design through BIM by using the criteria developed from the first phase.