Applying LCA-BIM integration for a sustainable management process

The use of advanced energy-efficient building practices is widely increasing in the international marketplace such as building commissioning process, energy simulation, measurement and verification, carbon dioxide monitoring and controllability of artificial lighting and ventilation systems. These processes should not be looked upon in isolation because after all, they aim at achieving almost the same green goals but acting on different sustainable criteria or life stages. It is also noted that a common obstacle for adopting such practices in the marketplace is their perceived high cost owing to the additional time and expertise required. Hence, the study presents an integrated Building Information Modelling (BIM) model to reach high building performance within planned time and cost constraints. This is performed through an integrated qualitative and quantitative methodology through; literature review followed by an online questionnaire and the outcome results are numerically developed into a causal loop diagram to define interrelations and problematic areas according to four assumed integration loops; L1: procedure, L2: temporal sequence, L3: pros and L4: cons. The study uses BIM modelling and Venism PLE 7.1 to represent the integration diagram proposed for such green building practices. The results of the study present means of integrating advanced energy-efficient building practices as subcomponents of larger system integration model to reach higher building energy performance targets.