Sahebzamani, E and Forcada, N (2026) Enhancing sustainable construction decisions: Integrating BIM and VR for circular economy assessment. Building Research & Information, 54(1), pp. 79-99. ISSN 0961-3218
Abstract
The significant environmental impact of the construction industry requires a shift towards sustainable practices and circular economy (CE) processes. BIM-based VR has demonstrated great potential for allowing project teams to visualize and understand the complexity of projects and can be used early in the design process to establish a circularity perspective during the decision-making processes. This paper presents a framework named 'DecideCircular', which combines BIM and VR to enhance the selection of construction products and materials under a circular approach by providing an immersive and interactive solution. Employing a Design Science Research methodology, the study outlines the conceptual model approach together with the relevant indicators to include in the selection of construction products. Then, the framework is implemented in existing software and evaluated through a case study. Within the VR environment, stakeholders are able to check the different metrics (environmental, social, circularity and economic) of the building products and the entire building to optimize them in alignment with project objectives and sustainability considerations. The results demonstrate that the DecideCircular framework significantly enhances the accessibility and comprehensibility of CE-related information, leading to more informed and sustainable construction decisions.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building information modelling; circular economy; construction 5.0; virtual reality |
| Index terms: | design science research, sustainable construction, design process, complexity, construction product, methodology, environmental impact, circularity, decision-making process, circular economy, building information modelling, accessibility, sustainable practice, case study, construction industry, project team, virtual reality |
| Subjects: | economic analysis, environmental impact, sustainable materials, research methods, inclusive design, sustainable construction, sustainable design, project delivery, virtual reality, data collection methods, design methods, sustainable practices, decision analysis, information systems, systems engineering, industry analysis, design practice |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Risk Management, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Digital Applications, Design Practice, Research Practice, Business Strategy |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here