Abstract The current practice for information sharing with building information modelling (BIM) is distributed data sharing based on conversions. Conversions are problematic due to data loss, redundancy, and conflicting information. The hypotheses of this research were that i) a conversion-free data exchange is a feasible approach for BIM, ii) benefits can be achieved with a conversion-free information sharing, and iii) no impediment in principle exists for wider industrial use. The use of a single data schema by all applications is a requisite for a conversion-free data collaboration. For enabling the free evolution of the data content, a version free data schema is necessary. A model arrangement implementing partial models is needed for the growing size of models. A single shared model approach eliminates data conflicts and duplicates. For the best availability, the location for the shared model should be on a cloud service. Accessing the cloud model only through a web service, which encapsulates all model handling functionality, will ensure data integration and validity. The validity of IT solutions can only be confirmed with real software. For testing the conversion-free BIM method, a software development kit (SDK) with required functionality was programmed. Three applications and a cloud service for handling the shared model were developed with the help of SDK. In the experiments, Leonardo application was used for modelling walls, 3DTrussme for trusses, and Viewer for viewing the model. All applications were using the same shared model on the cloud. In the experimental test, the information exchange occurred without conversions, and all the data were saved only once on the cloud database. Without conversions, less conflicts and redundancies occurred, which lead to better data integrity and integration. Using SDK, there was no technical barrier for applications to join the single shared model ecosystem, but a drawback was that existing BIM programs are not compatible without remarkable changes. The performance was acceptable in the test run, but in real use, the size of the model and the number of applications and users will be much larger. However, a conversion-free single shared model approach can be a possible trend to the next generation BIM as well as a potential alternative for current data sharing methods using distributed files, conversions, and linked data. / Tiivistelmä Rakentamisen tietomallinnuksen (BIM) nykyisenä tiedonjakamisen käytäntönä on hajautettu tietojärjestelmä, joka perustuu konversioihin. Konversiot ovat ongelmallisia tiedon häviämisen, ristiriitojen ja päällekkäisyyksien vuoksi. Tämän tutkimuksen hypoteesit olivat: i) konversiovapaa tiedonjakaminen on mahdollista, ii) etuja on saavutettavissa ilman konversioita tapahtuvassa tiedonsiirrossa ja iii) laajemmalle teolliselle käytölle ei ole periaatteellisia esteitä. Konversiovapaa tiedon jakaminen edellyttää yhden dataformaatin käyttöä. Alati kasvavien tietomallien koko vaatii tiedon järjestämismenetelmän, joko mahdollistaa osamallit. Datan ristiriidat ja päällekkäisyydet voidaan estää yhden jaetun mallin menetelmällä. Informaatio on parhaiten kaikkien osapuolien saatavilla, kun jaettu malli sijoitetaan pilvipalveluun. Kun tietomallia käsitellään vain web-palvelun rajapintafunktioilla, tiedon eheys ja kelpoisuus säilyvät. Tietoteknisten ratkaisujen kelpoisuus voidaan viime kädessä osoittaa vain toimivilla ohjelmistoilla. Konversiovapaan menetelmän testausta varten kehitettiin vaadittavat ominaisuudet sisältävä ohjelmistokehityspaketti (SDK), joka on edellytys sovellusten yhteensopivuudelle. Kolme sovellusta eli 3DTrussme, Leonardo ja Viewer ohjelmoitiin SDK:n avulla. Ohjelmointirajapinta sisälsi tarvittavat toiminnallisuudet tiedonjakamiseen, ja se toteutettiin pilvipalveluna. Testiajossa Leonardo-sovelluksella mallinnettiin seinät, 3DTrussmellä suunniteltiin naulalevyristikot ja Viewer-sovelluksella tarkasteltiin mallia. Kaikki kolme sovellusta käyttivät samaa jaettua mallia pilvipalvelussa. Suoritetussa testissä kaikki informaatio jaettiin ilman konversioita ja tallennettiin vain kerran. Ilman konversioita ja päällekkäisyyksiä saavutettiin parempi datan eheys ja integraatio. SDK:n avulla uudet sovellukset pystyivät liittymään yhden jaetun mallin ekosysteemiin ilman teknisiä esteitä. Toisaalta, ilman merkittäviä muutoksia nykyiset BIM sovellukset eivät ole yhteensopivia. Testiajossa suorituskyky oli hyväksyttävä, mutta todellisuudessa mallien koko sekä sovellusten ja käyttäjien lukumäärä ovat paljon suurempia. Tutkimus osoitti, että konversiovapaa yhden jaetun mallin menetelmä voi olla seuraava BIM-kehityssuunta ja vaihtoehto nykyisille tiedonsiirtoratkaisuille, jotka käyttävät erillisiä tiedostoja, konversioita ja linkkejä.

La maquette numérique de bâtiments historiques (Heritage-BIM) est devenue un enjeu majeur dans la modélisation. Le modèle HBIM ainsi obtenu comprend une description paramétrique et sémantique des éléments constitutifs du patrimoine. La thèse présente des méthodes de constructions HBIM à partir de la documentation historique, de nuages de points, de maillage de surfaces et de géométrie solide. Un concept de mesh-to-HBIM est proposé à l'aide de la programmation visuelle, qui permet de transformer les « familles » paramétriques et les structures géométriques en modèles paramétriques et sémantiques HBIM. La modélisation paramétrique HBIM consiste à créer manuellement des Familles Revit paramétriques et une reconstruction de bâtiment semi-automatisée par l'application de scripts Dynamo. Le processus de modélisation sémantique HBIM transforme directement des géométries segmentées de maillages ou de solides vers l'environnement BIM. Les éléments segmentés et individualisés peuvent être stockés et gérés dans cet environnement avec des compléments d'informations d'association entre éléments. / Heritage Building Information Modelling (HBIM) is a major issue in heritage documentation and conservation. The obtained HBIM model provides a parametric and semantic description of the heritage elements. This thesis presents methods for the generation of HBIM models from point clouds (obtained by photogrammetry or laser scanning), surface mesh and solid geometry. A concept of solid/mesh-to-HBIM is proposed using Autodesk Dynamo visual programming, which transfers the parametric “Family” and geometric structures to parametric and semantic HBIM models. The parametric HBIM modelling process involves conventional manual parametric “Family” creation and semi-automated building reconstruction by Dynamo. The semantic HBIM modelling process directly transfers the segmented solid geometry and closed mesh-to-BIM environment. The segmented elements can be stored and managed in the BIM environment with attached attributes information and relationships established among the elements.

<p>Whilst the amount of information readily available to workers in information- and knowledge intensive business- and industrial contexts only seem to increase with every day, those workers still have difficulties in finding relevant and needed information as well as storing, distributing, and aggregating such information. Yet, whilst there exist numerous technical, organisational, and practical approaches to remedy the situation, the problems seem to prevail.</p><p>This publication describes the first part of the author’s work on defining a methodology for improving the flow of work related information, with respect to the information demand of individuals and organisations. After a prefatory description of the perceived problems concerning information flow in modern organisations, a number of initial conjectures regarding information demand and use in small-scale business contexts are defined based on a literature study. With this as the starting point the author sets out to, through an empirical investigation performed in three different Swedish organisations during 2005, identify how individuals within organisations in general, and these three in particular, use information with respect to such organisational aspects as roles, tasks, and resources as well as spatio-temporal aspects. The results from the investigation are then used to validate the conjectures and to draw a number of conclusions on which both a definition of information demand, as well as the initial steps towards defining a methodology for information demand analysis, are based. Lastly, a short discussion of the applicability of the results in continued work is presented together with a description of such planned work.</p>

Syftet med den här studien är att förbättra informationsflödet från projektering och produktion in i förvaltningen. Detta för att väcka ett intresse hos förvaltare och för att visa att det finns pengar att spara genom att ta hand om informationen från projekteringen och produktionen. Tidigare studier inom området BIM visar att stor fokus läggs på projektering och produktion men det är ett väldigt litet fokus på förvaltningen när man talar om BIM. Målet är att konkret kunna visa vad informationen är värd och att visa vilken information förvaltare använder och var den finns i byggprocessens skeden före förvaltningen. Rapporten bygger på en litteraturstudie, intervjuer och beräkningar. Förvaltare har blivit tillfrågade vilken information de använder i förvaltningen och sedan har projektör och entreprenör blivit tillfrågad ifall denna information finns att tillgå i projekteringen och produktionen. Värderingen av informationen har sedan gått till på två sätt. Det ena sättet är att bedöma kostnaden av att uppdatera information mot kostnaden att ta fram information på nytt. Det andra sättet är att med hjälp av nyckeltal (kronor per kvadratmeter) och den lista med typ av information som förvaltare använder, som sammanställts från intervjuerna, ta reda på vad information är värd. Det första sättet att värdera visar att det kostar lika mycket att hålla relationsritningar (A) uppdaterade i som minst 18år och i som mest 50år som att ta fram informationen helt på nytt. Nästan samma gäller för BIM-modell med avseende på relationsritningar (A). Fast där är kostnaden för framtagning på nytt lika stor som att hålla den uppdaterad i som minst 22år och i som mest 58år. Det andra sättet att värdera visar att mindre än 25% av den information man kan finna i projekteringen och eller i produktionen är värd cirka 10% av projekteringskostnaden. / The purpose of this study is to improve the flow of information from the design and construction phase into the facility management. This in order to make the facility managers see the advantages with BIM and to show that there is money to be saved by retrieving the information from the design and the construction phase. Earlier studies show that there actually has been quite little research done within BIM in the facility management and that the main focus has been at the design and the construction phase. The aim with the study is to specify the value of the information and to show which information facility managers use and where it can be retrieved from within the earlier phases of the construction process. The report is based on a literature study, interviews and calculations. A number of facility managers have been asked which types of information they use and designers and entrepreneurs have then been asked if these types of information can be found in the design and the construction phase. The information has been valued in two different ways. In one way the information was valued by comparing the cost between updating existing information or recreate the same type of information. The other way of valuing the information was to find out the worth of information by using key figures (SEK per square meter) and the list of information that facility managers use, which was made up from the interviews. The first way of valuing shows that the cost of producing as built drawings (A) in the facility management cost as much as keeping the same type of information updated for at least 18years and as most 50years. Almost the same goes for a BIM-model. Only there the difference is that the cost of producing a BIM-model focused on as built drawings (A) in the facility management cost as much as keeping the same type of information updated for at least 22years and as most 58years. The other way that the information was valued shows that less than 25% of the information that can be found in the design and/or construction phase is worth circa 10% of the projecting fee.

Thesis (MScEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Organizations formally define and document their business processes in order to properly understand them and to subsequently enable their continuous development, improvement and management. In order to formally define and document their business processes, organizations can use Business Process Modelling, which represents the design of graphical models that portray the business processes of organizations. It is however noted that it is difficult to select a suitable Business Process Modelling Technique in support of a specific application of Business Process Modelling. This is due to the considerable amount of existing Business Process Modelling Techniques, the inherent impact of their varying capabilities and the lack of formal measures that are available to support evaluations regarding their suitability for specific modelling applications. It is therefore considered appropriate to execute a research study that is aimed at the development and validation of a measurement framework that can be used to evaluate the suitability of Business Process Modelling Techniques for specific modelling applications. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Organisasies definieer en dokumenteer hulle besigheidsprosesse op ʼn formele wyse om hulle ordentlik te verstaan en gevolglik hulle deurlopende ontwikkeling, verbetering en bestuur te bemagtig. Ten einde die uitvoering van hierdie aktiwiteit aan te spreek, kan organisasies Besigheidsproses Modellering gebruik om grafiese modelle van hulle besigheidsprosesse te ontwerp. Daar word egter kennis geneem dat dit moeilik is om ʼn geskikte Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegniek te kies tes ondersteuning van ʼn spesifieke toepassing van Besigheidsproses Modellering. Dit is weens die groot hoeveelheid bestaande Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegnieke, die impak van hulle variërende vermoëns asook die gebrek aan formele maatstawwe wat gebruik kan word om hulle geskiktheid vir spesifieke modellering toepassings te evalueer. Dit lei tot die besluit om ‘n studie te voltooi wat gefokus is op die ontwikkeling en validasie van ʼn metings raamwerk wat gebruik kan word om die geskiktheid van Besigheidsproses Modellering Tegnieke vir spesifieke toepassings van Besigheidproses Modellering te evalueer.

Nos últimos anos, a discussão sobre a implementação do conceito de modelagem da informação da construção tem permanecido nas pautas das empresas do setor da construção civil em todo o mundo; no entanto, no cenário brasileiro, o descompasso entre a estratégia setorial e as iniciativas individuais de algumas empresas tem chamado a atenção. Partindo do princípio de que o conceito de modelagem da informação da construção, em função do seu caráter de inovação tecnológica, carrega consigo a necessidade de mudanças, a reflexão e adaptações sobre os diversos processos que permeiam a produção dos empreendimentos de construção torna-se fundamental. Nesse contexto, o objetivo desta tese é propor um conjunto de Diretrizes para Gestão do Processo de Projeto em Empresas Incorporadoras e Construtoras. As Diretrizes estão pautadas na necessidade de definir o projeto como um processo estratégico, inserindo a sua gestão como elemento fundamental para a facilitação e integração do fluxo de informações no âmbito do empreendimento. Para a concretização do objetivo da tese, realizaram-se Estudos de Caso em empresas Incorporadoras e Construtoras brasileiras com o objetivo de diagnosticar as práticas vigentes de gestão do processo de projeto. Em paralelo, conduziu-se a reflexão sobre as responsabilidades do gestor do processo de projeto no âmbito da modelagem por meio de Grupos de Foco envolvendo gestores do processo de projeto e especialistas em tecnologia da informação aplicada à construção. Além disso, a metodologia de pesquisa contempla um Estudo de Caso com foco para a implementação do Conceito de Modelagem da Informação no contexto setorial do Reino Unido. Como resultado das Diretrizes, apresenta-se o Modelo para Gestão do Processo de Projeto no Contexto da Modelagem, seguido pelo Plano de Reestruração para o Departamento de Projetos, o qual visa à proposição de um modelo estruturado para condução das mudanças necessárias nas áreas responsáveis pelo processo de projeto das empresas Incorporadoras e Construtoras. / The discussion about BIM (Building information Modelling) implementation has remained on the agendas of construction companies worldwide in recent years; however, in the Brazilian context, the gap between the industry strategy and few companies which have decided to implement BIM autonomously has been the main aspect that draw attention. Assuming BIM as a technological innovation, which carries with it changes, it is fundamental to analyse and adapt the design and construction processes. In this context, the thesis aims propose a set of Guidelines to Manage the Design Process of Brazilian Real Estate Development Companies. The Guidelines has taken the Design Management as a strategic process which must facilitate and integrate information flow among the Construction Project agents. In order to achieve the objective of Thesis, Case Studies have carried out in order to diagnose the design management current practices in the Brazilian Real Estate Development Companies. Aiming to discuss the Design managers\' responsibilities in contexts where BIM is applied, Focus Groups were organized and Design Managers, BIM specialists and also Academics have participated in the discussions sections. In addition, the research methodology have included a Case Study focusing on the BIM implementation in United Kingdom construction industry. As results and Guidelines, the Design Management Modeling in BIM context, followed by the Restructuring Planning are proposed. The Restructuring Planning was defined specifically for Real Estate Development Companies and aims to propose structured way, comprehending processes which should be re-designed and a set of steps for driving the necessary changes in order to use Design Management Guide in BIM context are proposed.

Em decorrência de sua atuação expressiva no mercado de financiamento de empreendimentos de habitação e infraestrutura, a Caixa Econômica Federal (Caixa) é um banco de grande relevância para o setor da construção civil brasileira. A Caixa mantém um setor técnico no qual são desempenhadas, dentre demais responsabilidades, as atividades de análise de documentação técnica e verificação da execução orçamentária e financeira das obras. Atualmente, esses procedimentos são realizados essencialmente de forma manual, configurando um processo moroso e suscetível à ocorrência de imprecisões. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo analisar a introdução da Modelagem da Informação da Construção, notadamente, no processo de verificação da documentação técnica de obras, realizado pelos profissionais desse banco público. Primeiramente, realizou-se um diagnóstico, por meio de uma survey, no setor técnico da Caixa que apontou aspectos relevantes à gestão de mudanças de origem tecnológica nesse ambiente. Em continuidade ao estudo de caso, investigou-se as motivações, os benefícios almejados e as possíveis barreiras para a implantação dessa inovação no processo de análise técnica desenvolvido pela instituição. Para verificar a adequabilidade e a aceitação das propostas preliminares de ferramentas e diretrizes de modelagem foi conduzido um workshop no qual participaram profissionais voluntários do mercado da construção civil. Com base neste estudo, apresentado neste trabalho na forma de três artigos científicos publicados, verificou-se que a Caixa pode ser considerada um importante vetor de difusão de práticas associadas à Modelagem da Informação da Construção na indústria da construção civil brasileira e que a proposição de novas ferramentas e diretrizes poderia ser efetivamente adequada para incrementar a prática projetual. Além disso, observou-se que a transformação interna necessária para a implementação de mudanças nos processos técnicos da Caixa é viável desde que seja propiciado um ambiente favorável, em que os gestores incentivem, planejem e deem suporte às possíveis mudanças. Finalmente, a contribuição pretendida com esta pesquisa é fomentar outras iniciativas e colaborar para a disseminação da Modelagem da Informação da Construção nos setores de projeto e construção civil brasileiros. / Due to its outstanding performance in housing and infrastructure construction financing market, Caixa Econômica Federal (Caixa) is a bank of great importance in the Brazilian Construction and Design industry. Caixa maintains a technical department that, among other activities, perform technical feasibility analyses, and verify the budgetary and financial development of construction projects. Currently, the project analysis process is manual, time-consuming and error-prone. In this sense, the present study aims to analyse the introduction of Building Information Modelling in the technical feasibility analyses process, carried out by engineers and architects. Firstly, a survey was conducted to perform an intraorganizational assessment of Caixa\'s technical department, in order to identify aspects relevant to change management. Secondly, in this study case, the motivations, the desired benefits and potential barriers to the implementation of this innovation were investigated. In addition, a workshop was conducted with construction and design professionals to verify the suitability and acceptance of the preliminary proposals of tools and modelling guidelines. Based on this study presented in three published scientific papers, Caixa can be considered an important diffusion vector of Building Information Modelling practices in the Brazilian construction and design industry. In addition, the proposition of new tools and modelling guidelines could effectively be appropriate to enhance its design practices. Furthermore, the intraorganizational change required for implementing innovations in the Caixa technical department proved to be feasible if provided with a favourable environment in which managers stimulate, plan and support possible changes. Finally, the intended contribution of this research is to encourage other initiatives and contribute to spreading additional practices related to Building Information Modelling in the Brazilian construction and design industry.

A well-structured and coordinated information management practice is central to promoting efficiency in construction. Building information management encompasses authoring, interpretation, communication, coordination and storage of building information. The benefits envisioned by utilizing IT developments such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the facility management and operations (FM&amp;O) sector are estimated to be far greater than in other sectors. There is, however, a gap between the knowledge available in the field of building information management and the actual demands of the architectural, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) industry, especially the FM&amp;O sector. The overall aim of this qualitative research is to develop knowledge that conceptualizes the lifecycle supporting implementation of BIM in the AECO industry with a focus on its implications for a BIM-enabled FM&amp;O practice. This applied research comprises a number of summative and formative components: paper 1 investigates the existing and emerging information management systems for the FM&amp;O sector and their characteristics. The focus of paper 2 is narrowed down to the technical requirements on building information management systems; while its temporal scope spans the entire lifecycle of buildings. Paper 3 is a further elaboration on the findings of paper 1 and covers the technical requirements of BIM-implementation in the FM&amp;O sector. Paper 4 investigates workflows – another category of the issues identified in paper 1. Paper 1 aims to provide a general understanding of the importance and implications of implementing BIM-enabled systems in the FM&amp;O sector and also identifies the main categories of the issues associated with this approach. This literary paper reports on a basic research with a descriptive approach and builds upon the information from a non-exhaustive set of literature. In this paper, workflows, contracts and information technology have been identified as three categories of the issues associated with implementing BIM-enabled systems in the FM&amp;O sector. Paper 2 is also a literary research which draws on the notion of BIM repositories and aims to clarify the technical requirements for a more collaborative building industry as well as depicting the current status of building knowledge management technologies, recent trends and future prospects. Open format BIM repositories have been suggested as the cornerstones of an integrated information management system for AECO firms. The aim of paper 3 is twofold: firstly, to summarize the current status of the building information management technologies applied in the facility operation activities and identifying prevailing issues; secondly, to devise some technical solutions for those issues based on a case project. In the first part of this study, a summarized description of information management configurations in eleven projects were extracted from literature and the technical issues within those systems were identified. Moreover, five major categories of contemporary technical solutions for enhancing information transfer from BIM to FM&amp;O software were designated. Then, a narrative and illustrative representation and reconstruction of an IT-implementation project was developed. Paper 4 is another literary study which aims to provide the theoretical basis for more focused studies on existing and desired processes in the FM&amp;O sector and their associated information transactions. In this paper, firstly, the more common definitions of the key concepts have been revisited and discussed. Then, the generic types of the processes, activities and organizational roles common to FM&amp;O firms, the types of information required by each actor and how such information are acquired have been presented. / <p>QC 20150423</p>

<div>Cost estimation is an integral part of any project, and accuracy in the cost estimation process is critical in achieving a successful project. Manually computing cost estimates is mentally draining, difficult to compute, and error-prone. Manual cost estimate computation is a task that requires experience. The use of automated techniques can improve the accuracy of estimates and vastly improve the cost estimation process. Two main gaps in the automation of construction cost estimation are: (1) the lack of interoperability between different software platforms, and (2) the need for manual inputs to complete quantity take-off (QTO) and cost estimation. To address these gaps, this research proposed a new systems to support the computing of cost estimation using Model View Definition (MVD)-based checking, industry foundation classes (IFC) geometric analysis, logic-based reasoning, natural language processing (NLP), and automated 3D image generation to reduce/eliminate the labor-intensive, tedious, manual efforts needed in completing construction cost estimation. In this research, new IFC-based systems were developed: (1) Modeling – an automated IFC-based system for generating 3D information models from 2D PDF plans; (2) QTO - a construction MVD specification for IFC model checking to prepare for cost estimation analysis and a new algorithm development method that computes quantities using the geometric analysis of wooden building objects in an IFC-based building information modeling (BIM) and extracts the material variables needed for cost estimation through item matching based on natural language processing; and (3) Costing – an ontology-based cost model for extracting design information from construction specifications and using the extracted information to retrieve the pricing of the materials for a robust cost information provision.</div><div><br></div><div>These systems developed were tested on different projects. Compared with the industry’s current practices, the developed systems were more robust in the automated processing of drawings, specifications, and IFC models to compute material quantities and generate cost estimates. Experimental results showed that: (1) Modeling - the developed component can be utilized in developing algorithms that can generate 3D models and IFC output files from Portable Document Format (PDF) bridge drawings in a semi-automated fashion. The developed algorithms utilized 3.33% of the time it took using the current state-of-the-art method to generate a 3D model, and the generated models were of comparative quality; (2) QTO – the results obtained using the developed component were consistent with the state-of-the-art commercial software. However, the results generated using the proposed component were more robust about the different BIM authoring tools and workflows used; (3) Extraction – the algorithms developed in the extraction component achieved 99.2% precision and 99.2% recall (i.e., 99.2% F1-measure) for extracted design information instances; 100% precision and 96.5% recall (i.e., 98.2% F1-measure) for extracted materials from the database; and (4) Costing - the developed algorithms in the costing component successfully computed the cost estimates and reduced the need for manual input in matching building components with cost items.</div>

Introduction – The building industry is evolving, this urges for innovative methodologies to facilitate the construction processes including the information exchanges between these to accomplish a sustainable future. In addition, new requirements are being set by the Swedish government and other national authorities with the objective of reducing the climate impact caused by the construction industry, which is responsible for a large amount of carbon dioxide emissions. A helpful tool to estimate the total carbon dioxide emission value is the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) which depends on the Information Exchanges (IE) and the Level of Development (LOD) in BIM (Building Information Modelling) based projects to achieve a reliable result. Therefore, this research aims to find a better understanding of the relation between LOD, IE and LCA in BIM-based projects. Method – This research is based on an authentic ongoing construction project (casestudy), an assembled theoretical framework based on knowledge of the different subjects: LOD, BIM, LCA and IEs. And how previous researchers have faced similar issues. Also, on various thorough document analysis (BIM model and EIs) obtained from the case study. The mentioned above forms a support basis for this paper. Results – Two different BIM models were used to perform two LCA-simulations. One formed with LOD 200 provided a generic presentation of the studied element, which in this case was the model’s exterior walls. While the other model with LOD 300 generated a complex presentation of the model’s exterior walls. The simulation generated a comparative data showing that the Low LOD model had a climate impact value of 248 000 kg CO2. On the other hand, the High LOD model generated a climate impact value of 137 850 kg CO2, resulting in a 45% difference. The results presents that a lower carbon dioxide emission was caused when utilizing a higher LOD which contains more complex and specific information. The results argue for that a BIM model with the adequate amount of LOD is crucial for obtaining more reliable results when performing an LCA. Analysis – The results obtained from the LCA-simulations enhance the theories about the importance of LOD when performing an LCA. Higher LOD in a model generates more reliable results. Moreover, using a BIM software and an LCA plugin as tools facilitate the various IEs in a project. Discussion – The approach was limited to explore the environmental impact of one construction element, exterior walls, and its different LOD. Also, only the stage A1-A3 was analysed. However, trustworthy results were obtained due to the use of reliable data and research methods.