Embodied energy considerations in a bim-enabled building design process: an ethnographic case study

Banteli, Amalia, Stevenson, Elizabeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8531-2091 and Patel, Hiral ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7783-5952 2020. Embodied energy considerations in a bim-enabled building design process: an ethnographic case study. Presented at: ARCOM 36th Annual Conference 2020, Virtual, 7-8 September 2020. Published in: Scott, L. and Neilson, C.J. eds. Proceedings of the 36th Annual ARCOM Conference. Leeds, U.K.: ARCOM, pp. 376-385.

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Abstract

Built environment carbon emission reductions have been focused on operational energy reduction. Successes in this area have increased the significance of embodied energy and carbon (EC); however, this is not addressed by legislation. United Kingdom (UK) construction industry fragmentation creates further challenges that undermine the consideration of EC. It has been hypothesised that Building Information Modelling (BIM) empowers information management and collaboration amongst professionals, thereby potentially facilitating consideration of EC during building design. As both BIM and EC pose new challenges to design teams, this research investigates the role of EC in building design and how this is realised in practice, particularly for a BIM-enabled project. This investigation aims to identify the factors affecting EC considerations and reveal how relevant targets are set and realised in a BIM-enabled building design process. This will inform practice and policy to enable EC consideration in building design for BIM-enabled projects. An ethnographic approach was adopted which included interviews, meeting attendance and document analysis to investigate: 1) EC considerations in the design process, 2) the role of building professionals involved in the process and 3) what affects EC considerations and information management through BIM. This was applied to a UK BIM-enabled building project case study at its design stage. The initial investigation considered: 1) barriers and enablers for EC target setting and realisation and 2) BIM application and information management. These results were classified in relation to people, process and tools. A socio-technical perspective was adopted as a lens to generate conclusions and inform further data analysis. Future research will include three further case studies, enabling cross-case comparison of the factors affecting EC considerations in BIM-enabled projects.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Published
Schools:	Architecture
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) T Technology > TH Building construction
Uncontrolled Keywords:	BIM, socio-technical theory, design process, embodied energy, ethnography
Publisher:	ARCOM
ISBN:	978-0-9955463-3-2
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	3 June 2021
Last Modified:	28 Nov 2022 12:56
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/141733

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