Sustainable design of construction through waste management using building information modelling

Abstract

Industrial sectors, including the building sector, started to recognize the impact of their activities on the environment in the 1990s. Significant changes were needed to mitigate the environmental impact of building sector. One option to reduce these negative effects is sustainable construction approach, which is starting already sustainable design of construction. Sustainable design of construction includes social, economic, and environmental indicators of construction projects. Waste management presents significant part of construction project environmental performance. Considering that construction industry represents the third most important waste stream in EU, it is necessary to deal with construction and demolition waste (CDW) reducing already in design phase of each construction project. The application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a useful tool for this purpose. The paper points the possibilities of CDW management using BIM technology for design of constructions. The indicators of sustainability (one indicator is a waste generation) belong to 6th dimension of BIM. BIM provides the platform for determining the amount of construction waste in the sustainable design phase of construction projects. All stakeholders are able to can change their approach to waste management due the information about CDW amount, waste disposal and the costs involved. The result is an increased environmental performance of sustainable construction design using BIM technology. The goal of the paper is to provide information about way of construction sustainable design through waste management using building information modelling.