Comparative analysis between a complete LCA study and results from a BIM-LCA plug-in

Early and precise decisions can help the process of sustainable design to become much more efficient and cost-effective. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) enables a scientific assessment, which facilitates locating possible changes associated with different stages of the cycle which results in improvements in its environmental profile. Although LCA is increasingly present in the demands of the building sector, professionals continue to seek new ways to incorporate such a methodology into the building design and construction processes as seamlessly and straightforwardly as possible. A promising possibility is the integration of building components LCA data in the Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform. This paper discusses the consequences of the simplifications of LCA data and methodology in the main existing tools that integrates LCA in the BIM platform using a simulation on wall systems performed in a BIM plug-in. The consistency of the results is compared to a full WA on Gabi 6 software. The results were not consistent, despite the research efforts towards equalizing the scope of the studies to provide a fair comparison. The reasons are probably the simplifications and shortcuts necessary for developing a simpler BIM-based tool to be applied during the design process, by any building designer with no particular expertise in LCA.