Building information modeling (BIM) has revolutionized integrated planning by optimizing costs, schedule, and material use. However, building energy modeling (BEM) remains underutilized in early design stages due to interoperability challenges between BIM and BEM tools. This study addresses these challenges by exploring standardized exchange requirements and introducing a novel toolchain that bridges BIM and BEM workflows. In the BIM2IndiLight project, over 400 standardized properties for daylighting, artificial lighting, and façade systems were validated, revealing the advantages and limitations of parameter standardization. Building on these insights, the BIM2BEM-Flow project developed a three-step toolchain that efficiently manages project- and company-specific properties, defines mapping rules, and integrates parameters via a BIM plugin for validated IFC export. The results demonstrate that combining standardized properties with a flexible, workflow-driven toolchain significantly enhances data exchange and interoperability between BIM and BEM. This integrated approach supports early-stage energy performance optimization and offers a promising pathway toward more efficient design processes in the AECO industry.

Digital twins have attracted a lot of attention recently. However, the current manifestations are merely digital shadows, lacking means for bidirectional data exchange, which makes their use for assisting the construction of buildings much more difficult. We argue that this is due to the lack of a systematic process for developing a digital twin during a building’s life cycle. We argue to look for a solution by combining agile engineering with IT change management to establish an agile, change-driven process for engineering digital twins. Such a process, of course, deserves a qualitative assessment of the engineering process and the resulting digital twin. In the future, it should be possible to obtain a digital twin from a BIM-based design process by applying IT change management in an agile manner. This should happen under maximum automation and life cycle orientation. Our proposal is motivated by several years of interdisciplinary collaboration between civil engineering and computer science and evaluated using the Technology Acceptance Model. While the TAM is not specifically designed for digital twin methodologies, its application here aims to assess perceived usefulness and ease of use of DT methodologies from the user’s perspective, without addressing scalability concerns. This aims to provide actionable insights to guide the refinement of the process model, aligning it with user requirements and achieving its intended outcomes. Our evaluation confirms the proposed process’s perceived usefulness and ease of use, with robust correlations indicating strong acceptance potential among stakeholders. These results highlight the feasibility of the proposed approach and its alignment with expectations in real-world applications.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) enables the optimization of costs, time, and material consumption in integral planning processes. However, the adaptation of Building Energy Modeling (BEM) in the early planning phase is not fully exploited yet, although it is important for optimizing the energy efficiency of buildings. While BIM adaptation is increasing in the architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) industry, BEM integration faces major challenges, including interoperability issues between BIM and BEM tools. These challenges are enhanced by the fact that the current planning practice does not focus on early design optimization in the case of energy performance. Current research reinforces the importance of standardizing exchange requirements to tackle these interoperability challenges. The BIM2IndiLight project validated and documented over 400 properties for daylighting, artificial lighting and façade systems. However, feedback from the industry showed that standardization of properties alone is not enough. In the follow-up project BIM2BEM-Flow, a 3-step toolchain was devel-oped to efficiently manage and transfer project- or company-specific properties. This workflow defines parameters, assigns responsibilities and coordinates information via a BIM plugin that enables a validated export of IFC files for energy simulation. This paper presents the results from both projects, emphasizing the potential of stand-ardized properties and toolchain integration to close the gap between BIM and BEM for optimizing energy efficiency in the AECO industry.