Construction and demolition waste represents a growing environmental, social, and economic problem, and has become a priority for European and worldwide policies. The early quantification of construction waste is essential for the minimisation of its production and the improvement of waste management. This requires the development of design-based tools that enable a better understanding of the expected waste produced during the construction phase. Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodologies have gained recognition in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector, largely due to their capacity for data simulation, storage, and management during the building design phase. This study presents a software application, called WE-BIM Add-in, to quantify construction waste (CW) while designing the BIM model in Revit. A validated CW quantification model which enables waste types and quantities per building element to be predicted in detail according to the European List of Waste (LoW) is integrated into the Revit workflow. Design alternatives could be effortlessly simulated in real time to assist practitioners in decision-making during the early design stages. Two alternative structural systems of a Spanish residential building were compared: a reinforced concrete structure, Option 1 (O1), and a steel structure, Option 2 (O2). The results were obtained automatically: O2, in addition to reducing 56% of O1′s waste, would have increased the waste recycling rate by 49%; and displayed in Revit, thereby remaining consistent with those of other studies that compare prefabricated systems with in situ systems. This work provides a basis for future research into the automated estimation of construction waste in BIM which could become a useful tool in waste-prevention policies.

Construction waste (CW) is a prime contributor to the stream of total waste worldwide. One of the biggest challenges of the construction industry is to minimise CW and to develop practices of a more sustainable nature for its management and recycling in order to promote its transition towards a more effective circular economy. The implementation of these practices contributes towards mitigating the scarcity of natural resources and the environmental impact of CW. Thus, a preceding and essential step is the estimation of CW during building design, which will allow the adoption of measures for its early reduction and optimisation. For this purpose, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has become a useful methodology to predict waste during the early stages of design. There remains, however, a lack of instrumental development. Therefore, this study proposes a BIM-based method to estimate CW during building design by integrating a consolidated construction waste quantification model in three different BIM platforms. For its validation, the method is applied to the structural system of a Spanish residential building. The results provide evidence that the proposed method is vendor-neutral and enables the automatic identification and quantification of the waste generated by each building element during the design stage in multiple BIM platforms.

La industria de la construcción produce un significativo impacto medioambiental debido a que consume cerca del 40% de los recursos naturales y genera en torno al 40% de los residuos. Debe ser función del técnico responsable, entre otros, a través de los procesos de diseño, obtención y suministro de materiales, construcción, uso y demolición final, contribuir a un entorno más sostenible. Es por ello de gran interés identificar y cuantificar los factores que condicionan el impacto ambiental, ya que el único modo en el que se puede hablar de mejoras es a través de la obtención de datos que se puedan medir y contrastar con facilidad. En el presente trabajo se evaluarán estos factores desde la perspectiva de los recursos materiales consumidos durante la fase de construcción de la edificación. Dicha tarea no es sencilla dada la intervención de procesos y agentes muy heterogéneos, desde la extracción y fabricación de materiales hasta la deconstrucción o reciclado. Por último, se presenta un ejemplo práctico en el que se identifican y cuantifican los recursos consumidos en la ejecución de una cimentación. Los resultados de este estudio de campo son ciertamente preocupantes ya que el 100% de los recursos consumidos constituyen barreras a la sostenibilidad, bien por no ser renovables (90% de los recursos consumidos) o por la toxicidad que produce su fabricación o puesta en obra para las personas (10% restante).