Do Building Information Modelling Applications Benefit Design Teams in Achieving BREEAM Accreditation?

Using building information modelling (BIM) within a design team allows for integration of sustainability analysis such as daylighting analysis, water harvesting, and thermal assessment whilst capturing the data which can be used for BREEAM assessment. Therefore, the availability of data compared to traditional methods can be used to design teams, stakeholders, and environmental assessment bodies’ advantage. Since BIM boasts extensive building performance analysis capabilities, design teams should be provided with standard methodologies and guidance into successfully achieving certain BREEAM criteria. This paper highlights gaps in the existing theory to develop a solid understanding for further research in order to achieve BIM integrated BREEAM design team protocol. Further to this and running parallel to the protocol and guidance, an internal conceptual framework existing within BIM software could be instigated from future research. This will require detailed and innovative solutions to link the credits with the software both from an IT and from a software coding perspective; also, there is great merit into analysing design teams’ cultural and behavioural factors towards sustainable design through the BIM model. 1. Introduction The UK Government has singled out the built environment as an essential influence in helping the UK economy accelerate out of the recession. Statistics from the government’s industrial strategy show that the construction sector accounts for 7% of GDP (gross domestic product). In addition, the UK Government’s Construction Strategy 2011 indicates a 20% reduction in the cost of assets by 2016 in the public sector as the areas cost accounts for 40% of construction sector spending [1]. Recent investigations into sustainability are increasing due to requirement for low embodied energy buildings required by employers, clients, governments, and organisations. Azhar et al. [2], Autodesk Inc [3], and Biwas et al. [4] indicate that as a result local authorities, clients, and green building bodies are demanding low carbon energy efficient buildings from the construction industry due to the fact that 40% of the EU energy consumption is used in the construction sector [5]. This is seen as a major opportunity to implement sustainability practice with effective tools such as BIM to deliver an energy efficient structure. The construction industry is experiencing rapid modification in the methods used when buildings are designed and, as a result, project teams and constructors face the difficult task of adapting to these new methods whilst still