Non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques play an important role in the characterization and diagnosis of historic buildings, keeping in mind their conservation and possible rehabilitation. This paper presents a new approach that merges building information modeling (BIM) with environment geospatial data obtained by several non-destructive techniques, namely terrestrial laser scanning, ground-penetrating radar, infrared thermography, and the automatic classification of pathologies based on RGB (red, green, blue) imaging acquired with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). This approach was applied to the inspection of the Monastery of Batalha in Leiria, Portugal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To assess the capabilities of each technique, different parts of the monastery were examined, namely (i) part of its west façade, including a few protruding buttresses, and (ii) the masonry vaults of the Church (nave, right-hand aisle, and transept) and the Founder’s Chapel. After describing the employed techniques, a discussion of the optimization, treatment and integration of the acquired data through the BIM approach is presented. This work intends to contribute to the application of BIM in the field of cultural heritage, aiming at its future use in different activities such as facility management, support in the restoration and rehabilitation process, and research.

The civil construction industry is responsible for a large part of the world’s energy consumption; therefore, in recent years, sustainable practices in this sector have become increasingly common to minimize the environmental impacts of civil construction during the life cycle of buildings. As a result, new materials and more sustainable building techniques are being sought. In Portugal, rice husk is an abundant agricultural waste with great potential to be used as a raw material in thermal insulation materials, as well as giant reed, which is considered an invasive plant. In this study, thermal insulation plates composed of rice husks and/or reed fiber were developed, using sodium silicate as a binder in various proportions and with dimensions of 30 × 30 × 3 cm and density ranging between 0.219 and 0.352 g/cm³. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the thermal characteristics of the plates, such as thermal conductivity, as well as the mechanical resistance to bending and water absorption. The results of the thermal conductivity tests were promising for all compositions, with values in the range between 0.0602 and 0.0745 W/m·K, meeting the requirements to be considered as thermal insulation materials. The results for bending strength and water absorption presented values within the expected range for materials of vegetal origin.