A BIM-Enabled Ontological Framework for Multi-Criteria Circularity Assessment in the Built Environment

Subarna Sivashanmugam¹, Yiping Meng¹, Sergio Rodriguez¹, Farzad Pour Rahimian¹

1. Teesside University

Published in Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE 2024), edited by Ali GhaffarianHoseini, Amirhosein GhaffarianHoseini, Farzad Rahimian and Mahesh Babu Purushothaman. Springer Nature, Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, volume 591, 2025, pages 13 to 22. DOI 10.1007/978-981-96-4051-5_2.

Abstract

Circular Economy (CE) principles are widely acknowledged across the built environment to enhance the sustainability of projects across their life cycle. Advanced digital technologies have been integrated into design and construction strategies to accelerate the transition to circular mode. The existing evaluation methods for CE implementation focus critically on environmental and economic criteria for material efficiency and economic impact. The social and socio-economic dimensions are often overlooked. The sole focus on specific sustainable dimensions hinders its applications in real life. The high volume of qualitative data, varied measurement units across each indicator, and lack of data generalisation impede the integration of social factors seamlessly into the CE assessment workflows. An ontology is proposed to integrate environmental, economic, and social sustainability indicators that promote multi-criteria circularity assessments in building projects. The linked data features and application programming interface functionalities supported by Semantic Web Technologies and Building Information Modelling (BIM) facilitated the development of the ontology. The outputs from the ontology promote unification, consistency, and standardisation across the sustainability indicators, thus increasing its scalability across real-life scenarios. Further, this study supports the built environment in broadening the optimal choices of CE strategies and making sustainable decisions from early project stages through the proposed BIM-integrated open data model.

Keywords

Session

Presented in Track N, Saturday 9 November 2024, 16:15 to 18:15, room WA 224 B, Auckland University of Technology. Session chair Dr Aysu Kuru.

How to Cite

Sivashanmugam, S., Meng, Y., Rodriguez, S., & Rahimian, F. P. (2025). A BIM-Enabled Ontological Framework for Multi-Criteria Circularity Assessment in the Built Environment. In A. GhaffarianHoseini, A. GhaffarianHoseini, F. Rahimian, & M. B. Purushothaman (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (SASBE 2024) (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, Vol. 591, pp. 13–22). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-4051-5_2

About the Conference

Presented at SASBE 2024, the International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, held in Auckland from 7 to 9 November 2024 and chaired by Professors Ali and Amirhosein GhaffarianHoseini, founders of GDI Academy. The version of record is published by Springer Nature; this page is the conference archive record kept by GDI Academy.