One of the most significant job-producing sectors in the global economy is the construction industry. According to research by the European Commission, it is also one of the biggest trash producers, with present construction practises accounting for a third of global waste and at least 40% of carbon emissions.
The UK is currently facing a housing shortage
This number, however, is at odds with the fact that there is now a housing crisis in the UK. According to a National Housing Federation forecast, England will require 340,000 new houses by 2031, including 145,000 affordable ones. However, the present rate of construction is substantially below this modest estimate for necessary new construction.
The demolitions that take place concurrently with new construction both offset the net positive number of new residences and, in some situations, make way for them. When a building is being demolished, important resources like steel, aluminium, stone, and copper frequently wind up in landfills, especially when there are time restrictions. Instead of being harvested from these waste items, resources are being extracted fresh from the Earth.
Sustainability in construction
This strategy won't work indefinitely. Reusing or repurposing construction and demolition waste for retrofits, renovations, or new construction is becoming more popular as more nations, cities, and companies commit to achieving a net zero emission output by 2050. This practise is a component of the "circular economy," which advocates using already-available materials in the built environment.
A 2020 Club of Rome research on Finland, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden found that moving to a more circular construction sector would result in the creation of almost one million new employment and a two-thirds reduction in the carbon emissions of those nations.
Utilising BIM to help eliminate waste and build sustainability in construction
The use of processes like scan-to-BIM to help reduce waste and prepare for a building's long-term regenerative future is one of the most important ways that construction professionals can move toward this future. Using 3D laser scanners or mobile mappers, essential data is collected as point clouds and converted into a BIM output.
Information on thermal performance, power use, energy emissions, and even the effects that the building has on nearby wind and weather systems is typically included in a model that is operating on appropriate software.
The benefit of BIM also extends over the whole lifecycle of a building because it is a shared resource. Here, complete insight into how construction is developing in comparison to design intent and identifying areas where reused materials can be used with the least amount of waste feasible are important benefits. Costs and project schedules are kept under control thanks to this degree of precision and preparation.
In order to plan a new building that would work in harmony with its surroundings, laser scanning tools and modeling software aid in site assessment and surveying.
It improves coordination and reduces waste and rework significantly throughout the actual construction process.
The advantages of scan-to-BIM
The maintenance and retrofit phases of a building's lifecycle benefit greatly from scan-to-BIM because it produces a completely accurate as-built model of the structure that can be used as baseline information. From urban planners, civil engineers, architects, and surveyors to the people who will live in or utilise these buildings in a generation, everyone in the construction sector benefits when the BIM process is implemented.
3D laser scanners and software with scan-to-BIM capability are crucial tools that will enable sustainability in construction and help the construction industry reach the goal of net zero by 2050 thanks to the amount of waste it reduces, the design foresight it permits, the cross-sector collaboration it enables, and the new business it can win for ambitious early adopters.
