Total BIM for sustainable renovation: enabling reuse and data-informed climate decision-making

Abstract

Although building information modeling (BIM) has been widely recognized for its potential to support sustainability, it typically remains secondary to 2D drawings as the legally binding source of project information, limiting its reliability for informed decision-making. This study examines how Total BIM, where BIM replaces drawings as the legally binding source of design and construction information, enabled a digital ecosystem supporting climate-informed decision-making and reuse within a renovation and adaptive reuse project. A mixed-methods study was conducted on a Swedish renovation and adaptive reuse project implementing Total BIM. Quantitative BIM-derived data on quantities, costs and embodied carbon were combined with qualitative project insights to examine Total BIM enabled workflows for reuse and climate assessment. Total BIM enabled a reuse-oriented digital ecosystem supporting material and component reuse from early design through disassembly and reinstallation. Reuse strategies delivered substantial reductions in embodied carbon, while selected reuse cases remained cost-competitive with new materials. Innovative automated BIM-life cycle assessment (LCA) workflows enabled regular climate reporting aligned with evolving project data. Challenges included regulatory constraints, limited supply-chain readiness and weak market incentives for reuse. The study provides rare empirical evidence of how legally binding BIM can enable integrated reuse and BIM-LCA workflows in renovation and adaptive reuse projects. The findings contribute practice-based insights into how Total BIM can support climate-informed decision-making and digitally enabled circular renovation practices.