Predictive maintenance of built assets often relies on scheduled routine practices that are disconnected from real-time stress assessment, degradation and defects. However, while Digital Twin (DT) technology within building and urban studies is maturing rapidly, its use in predictive maintenance is limited. Traditional preventive and reactive maintenance strategies that are more prevalent in facility management are not intuitive, not resource efficient, cannot prevent failure and either underserve the asset or are surplus to requirements. City Information Modeling (CIM) refers to a federation of BIM models in accordance with real-world geospatial references, and it can be deployed as an Urban Digital Twin (UDT) at city level, like BIM’s deployment at building level. This study presents a systematic review of 105 Scopus-indexed papers to establish current trends, gaps and opportunities for a cognitive predictive maintenance framework in the architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO) industry. A UDT framework consisting of the CIM of a section of the University of Florida campus is proposed to bridge the knowledge gap highlighted in the systematic review. The framework illustrates the potential for CNN-IoT integration to improve predictive maintenance through advance notifications. It also eliminates the use of centralized information archiving.

For over a decade, digital modelling has transcended geometric representations to more advanced object-based modelling using real-life attirbutes. Digital technologies, especially Building Information Modelling (BIM) have been widely adopted in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry, while a newer niche - City Information Modelling (CIM) has emerged as an extension of BIM for urban informatics. This research proposes a framework that integrates heterogeneous CIM using a multi-level, nested data environment. The CIM is developed through a network of BIM models synchronized into a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) interface. The individual BIM models are blockchain-enabled by connecting them to a distributed ledger and shared across a network of project collaborators using a Common Data Environment (CDE) in a Building Level Framework.. The resulting CIM from the network of BIM models is shared between the asset owners in a City Level Framework. Use case scenarios are presented to illustrate the application of the research in real life, and research limitations are discussed. The study aims to improve management of buildings and urban assets, providing a more efficient and secure platform for collaboration and data sharing through a blockchain-CIM integration, providing opportunities for further research in digital modelling and smart technologies.

Journal of Information Technology in Construction

Over time, several procurement methods have been adopted to facilitate the successful delivery of construction projects with minimal financial losses in order to offer maximum value to clients. In recent years, the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) procurement model has been introduced for better overall financial performance. In this model, every member of the project team has a stake in overall profit or risk irrespective of the extent of their roles and change orders and correction of errors and omissions are managed effectively with minimal contractual disruptions. This paper aims to address some of the previously cited barriers in earlier scholarly work, and it proposes a conceptual framework that integrates two novel concepts towards tackling technological and financial barriers in adopting IPD namely, BIM and Smart Contracts (SC). A framework is developed for a BIM-blockchain-IPD whereby the BIM model is integrated with blockchain technology, thereby acting as an immutable and transparent information repository and a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. The smart contract feature of blockchain technology offers an automated equitable distribution of risk and reward amongst project stakeholders based on agreements at project inception. Thus, the research contributes to a more efficient project delivery method by avoiding information asymmetry amongst stakeholders through a tamper-proof, BIM-enabled Common Data Environment (CDE). The proposed framework is validated with qualitative analysis of information obtained based on AEC industry procurement workflows