A framework using BIM and digital twins in facilitating LCSA for buildings

The building and construction industry generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions, aside from other environmental and social impacts, while it contributes to economic and societal development as a whole. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) is a proven methodology to assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of a product system over its lifecycle. Applying LCSA to the construction domain is not trivial, as it needs to gather and connect data across several fields. A clear research gap was identified in the lack of data integration and completeness to carry out LCSA. This paper addresses this gap and shows how the complementary use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Twin (DT) sourced data can facilitate and improve the LCSA of buildings. It includes a review of the current state of the art; proposes a novel methodological framework based on existing standards, and emphasises the roles of BIM and DT for conducting LCSA in the building context; this is tested in a case study of a real office building. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that the inclusion of usually neglected social impacts can be considered under LCSA, and that BIM and DT data provides better impact estimates, which are necessary to evaluate the performance gap between design estimated impacts and measured ones. The challenges of implementing such a framework, as well as the limitations of existing technologies are also highlighted and discussed.