Developing a BIM-oriented data model to enable sustainable construction in practice

Sustainable construction is an emerging field of science that aims at incorporating the general sustainable development concepts into conventional construction practices. In spite of its importance and the proliferation of literature on sustainable construction, it is not yet a standard industry practice. This paper recognizes some key barriers to the implementation of sustainable construction, and discusses a new research effort undertaken by the authors that aims to eliminate some of the barriers and help in enabling sustainable construction. The methodology adopted exploits the power of systems engineering and the rapid evolution of Building Information Modelling (BIM), pursuing the development of a BIM-oriented data model for enabling sustainable construction. The environment, the built facility, and the construction/production system are abstracted as three interacting Systems of Systems (SoS). Accordingly, the framework for data model development is outlined, illustrating different operating mechanisms.