Adaptability of green BIM technology for the green buildings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

To raise awareness of green building constructions, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been incorporated with unique sustainable strategies. Green BIM technology is a significant innovation of BIM, emerged through the integration of BIM with sustainable strategies, which enhance the sustainable growth of buildings while making better opportunities to improve the performance of green buildings. However, the utilisation of Green BIM technology for existing buildings is less amongst green building practitioners though Green BIM is widely used for design and construction phases of buildings. In the Sri Lankan context, since BIM is not implemented yet in building construction, operation and maintenance, the inherent capabilities of Green BIM technology are hidden and invisible. Thus, an effort is needed to convince and prove the importance of Green BIM technology for green building practitioners. Towards this effort, the research is aimed at identifying the potential of implementing Green BIM technology for the existing green buildings in Sri Lanka where BIM is not applied. Accordingly, a mixed research approach was followed to accomplish the research aim. Literature review revealed that, the data availability required for Green BIM techniques and tools is the critical requirement to implement the Green BIM technology for the established buildings. A desk study was conducted to determine the required data and availability of the data was analysed through a questionnaire survey and a case study. The findings of questionnaire survey demonstrated that, there is an acceptable level of data within the current established green buildings. The results of the case study highlighted the potential of Green BIM implementation for the existing green buildings. Thus, the study concluded by identifying the ability of incorporating Green BIM technology for the existing green buildings considering the real-life context which ensure the Green BIM implementation for the green building sector in Sri Lanka.