BIM and Circular Design

Abstract

Materials passport is a tool to promote circular design. BIM is an essential and powerful tool to create and manage digital information. As such, it can be used for materials passports. Which information is needed and reliable? How can we extract it from a BIM model? The current debate issues "which information is needed?" with the assumption that it will be all settled with BIM. Indeed, BIM has great potential when it comes to gain and share information, but what are the possibilities and how to maximise its potential? This paper clears the discussion by giving better understanding about BIM and circular design using the different phases of the lifecycle to get a grip on how information develops during the process. A circular economy requires a paradigm-shift: buildings as material banks. Each building will have a 'materials passport' and new buildings will be built reversible and reusable using BIM. A circular BIM model is needed and should be created with the least possible effort in order to maximise its potential on an affordable way.