Digitalised circular construction supply chain: An integrated BIM-Blockchain solution

Blockchain and smart contracts are measures to speed up the diffusion of circular economy into construction processes. Nevertheless, integrated solutions that cover all the aspects of circular supply chain including network structure, business processes, and the products are still missing. This paper is an attempt to bridge this gap, through offering a workable solution to address the disconnected nature of blockchain adoption across construction procedures. Informed by the overall approach of design science research (DSR), the solution is created following the five-staged procedure of DSR: (1) problem identification, (2) treatment suggestion, (3) treatment design, (4) evaluation and (5) conclusion. Findings establish that the proposed solution is novel in several ways; it: (1) enables construction practitioners to share their building components information on a safe and immutable medium; (2) enables government authorities (i.e., city council) to track the treatment and delivery of hazardous products/materials; (3) supports the upstream circular economy design through fostering collaboration among 'designers to designers' and 'designers to asset owners' in a blockchain network; and (4) supports developing 'a bank of reusable BIM families', encouraging designers to use these items in their designs. Apart from these contributions, this study provides some fertile ground for future research. Chief among all: future studies can provide fully automated systems through integrating the solution presented here with the Internet of Things (IoT); and researchers that validate the workability of the proposed solution across various contexts and real-life projects in exposure to various settings and peculiarities.

Automated summary

Blockchain and smart contracts are utilized to accelerate the implementation of circular economy in construction processes. However, there is still a lack of integrated solutions that cover all aspects of the circular supply chain. This paper proposes a workable solution to address the fragmented adoption of blockchain in construction procedures, following the five-stage procedure of design science research. The proposed solution has novel features and provides fertile ground for future research.