Search

The value of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is widely discussed within all construction stages including the data-driven culture across building processes and sustainable impact in the long term. Yet, there is a need to explore the opportunities of BIM in improving construction materials management (CMM) as a core function of supply chain management. Due to the dearth of studies on BIM potential in improving CMM within the sustainability context, the authors examine the effectiveness and efficiency of BIM-enabled materials management, via three data streams: a literature review, an online survey, and interviews with subject matter experts in the field. This study aims to explore the drivers of BIM-enabled sustainable construction materials management. This is the preliminary study designed to test the initial hypotheses based on an online questionnaire application to derive tacit knowledge from industry and academic experts, followed by short interviews with respondents. Grounded in the comprehensive literature review, 24 indicators were defined for survey purposes. Preliminarily, 206 experts from 10 countries responded to the survey. The results show significant differences in the ranking of the indicators among the five factors. In developing countries, among two groups, industry sample awareness scales demonstrated lower understanding than among academic experts. Another finding relates to the significant agreement in scaling the importance of opportunities among industrial and academic sector experts. The research adds knowledge to deepen the understanding of opportunities of BIM-enabled materials management as a part of building project sustainable performance for industry policy and decision-makers. It also brings attention to the lack of sustainability awareness amongst industry experts in developing countries. Although materials constitute a solid part of any construction project cost, there is still a collaboration gap among designers, materials management, and, more broadly, supply chain management experts.

The latest industrial revolution 4 enabled significant performance improvement through technological advancements. Simultaneously, the industry is setting high-level expectations for changing business practices toward long-term benefits in all three sustainability dimensions. The concept of sustainability embraces all production and operation processes in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This study systematically explores the literature on sustainability with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies in the AEC industry and the sustainability vision for their integration. The different types of ERP and BIM implementations have similarities in addressing the broad scope of functionalities. The emergence and proliferation of ERP and BIM have brought crucial changes to the business environment. Further evolution to cloud-based operations is transforming companies from technology-oriented practices to data-centric decision-making smart infrastructures. The narrative literature review investigates the sustainability insights and ideas in ERP and BIM solutions, presenting state of the art on systems integration topics. The relevant literature was retrieved to achieve the research objectives which were qualitatively analyzed to generate the basis for further research.

Research on the digital built environment in the context of identifying and minimizing clashes is a critical area to investigate owing to the significant influence of clashes on the construction process. This research aims to identify the current state of building information modeling (BIM) enabled clash detection in the architecture, engineering, and construction and operation (AECO) industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan. It further identifies the main reasons for clash occurrence, methods, and practices used to decrease the workload on BIM project teams. It also recognizes the existence of BIM departments (their type and functionalities). It aims to answer whether the transition from clash detection to clash avoidance is possible in a country where BIM technology has just penetrated. This research conducted a literature review and review of current regulatory documents regarding BIM technology, interviews with industry professionals, and a survey among construction companies and design organizations. Although the AECO industry of Kazakhstan has just entered the BIM environment, this research has shown that BIM-enabled clash detection and resolution processes are trying to evolve in parallel. It was concluded that the transition is difficult in a country where document assistance with clash detection and resolution is not well developed.

Green buildings have been actively spreading as a solution for sustainability issues of the construction industry in at least the last two decades. As green building practices unfold in developing countries, the need of identifying factors that both hinder and drive its spread rises. Multiple studies reveal a general inconsistency among results in different parts of the world, caused by each country’s environmental, economic, and social conditions. Taking into account the experience of developing international green buildings and the current state of green building development in Kazakhstan, this study aims to spread the understanding of the factors that hinder and have the potential to drive the development of green buildings in Kazakhstan. A questionnaire survey was carried out among 38 industry experts in Kazakhstan to accomplish study objectives. Multiple data analysis methods were used to identify correlations among groups of experts and rank the factors. The results revealed a lack of skill/experience, a lack of government support, and the high cost of sustainable materials and products as the most crucial barriers. Water and energy efficiency, improved health of occupants, comfort, and satisfaction were identified as the most influential drivers. By expanding knowledge on factors affecting the implementation of green buildings, the study uncovered common trends in the responses of professionals, providing valuable information for field professionals and suggesting future research recommendations.

The use of building information modeling (BIM) for building sustainability assessment (BSA) is a thriving topic within the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Despite the various research approaches to employing BSA with BIM support, the research is limited to the BIM implications of BSA methods in developing countries. This paper presents how BIM can assist the BSA processes in Kazakhstan, using a previously developed building sustainability assessment framework for Kazakhstan (KBSAF). This framework has 46 assessment indicators grouped into nine assessment categories. The categories and assessment indicators of KBSAF were derived considering the regional variations and country-specific differences in the assessment factors. In this paper, BIM functions for BSA were identified through literature review; their applicability for KBSAF was evaluated by mapping the functions with the assessment indicators of KBSAF and a BIM-based BSA framework (BIM-KBSAF) was proposed. The proposed framework was validated through a three-round Delphi survey. One of the results demonstrates that for KBSAF, BIM can assess 24 out of 46 assessment indicators. The proposed framework could serve as a systematic guide to the application of BIM for BSA. Furthermore, it can facilitate the BSA process and save considerable time and effort.