arbiter
JournalsAccount

Enhancing sustainable construction decisions: integrating BIM and VR for circular economy assessment

Erisasadat Sahebzamani & Núria Forcada

Building Research and Information2025https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2024.2449441article
AJG 2ABDC A
Weight
0.52

Abstract

The significant environmental impact of the construction industry requires a shift towards sustainable practices and circular economy (CE) processes. BIM-based VR has demonstrated great potential for allowing project teams to visualize and understand the complexity of projects and can be used early in the design process to establish a circularity perspective during the decision-making processes. This paper presents a framework named ‘DecideCircular’, which combines BIM and VR to enhance the selection of construction products and materials under a circular approach by providing an immersive and interactive solution. Employing a Design Science Research methodology, the study outlines the conceptual model approach together with the relevant indicators to include in the selection of construction products. Then, the framework is implemented in existing software and evaluated through a case study. Within the VR environment, stakeholders are able to check the different metrics (environmental, social, circularity and economic) of the building products and the entire building to optimize them in alignment with project objectives and sustainability considerations. The results demonstrate that the DecideCircular framework significantly enhances the accessibility and comprehensibility of CE-related information, leading to more informed and sustainable construction decisions.

7 citations

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2024.2449441

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{erisasadat2025,
  title        = {{Enhancing sustainable construction decisions: integrating BIM and VR for circular economy assessment}},
  author       = {Erisasadat Sahebzamani & Núria Forcada},
  journal      = {Building Research and Information},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2024.2449441},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

Enhancing sustainable construction decisions: integrating BIM and VR for circular economy assessment

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.52

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.47 × 0.4 = 0.19
M · momentum0.68 × 0.15 = 0.10
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.