Sustainable BIM-driven post-occupancy evaluation of buildings (Ref SBE/DTA - SP1 - I Mottawa)*

The national regulation on energy performance and ‘carbon’ accounting has asked for a greater consistency of construction information to achieve the CO2 emission target. Therefore, clients and Industry should work closely together in developing plans to make the transition to low carbon buildings feasible in order to meet the CO2 emission target over the identified time horizon. Achieving so requires the development and/or refinement of alternative approaches to the procurement of integrated teams in workable propositions to deliver zero carbon building. Among the new strategies in this area is the principle of “Soft Landings” which are now targeted to be embedded into contracts and processes to ensure that buildings performance meet design criteria. In this context, Building Information Modelling (BIM) can play a key role in addition to its capability to create more homogenisation of the construction supply-chain. BIM has the greatest potential to transform the structure of the industry and Government is now advised to mandate the use of BIM for all central projects with a value greater than £50m. Despite the significant savings derived from adopting the BIM approach, BIM adoption should be considered within an overall improvement strategy for the industry sectors, especially governmental clients. A structured and consistent approach can drive a mass improvement in BIM taking-up over a well defined horizon to improve the performance of the government estate in terms of its cost, value and carbon performance. The general aim is to transform the current post-occupancy management of buildings into a new BIM-driven approach to deliver an environment whereby the Government client would have an estate that is smarter enough to face a low carbon economy where reductions in operational costs and carbon emissions are targeted. The project will develop a mechanism for post-occupancy evaluation in buildings based on BIM technology.