Integrating building information modeling (BIM) and LEED system at the conceptual design stage of sustainable buildings

Designing environmentally friendly buildings that provide both high performance and cost savings is of increasing interest in the development of sustainable cities. Today, we are looking at not just buildings’ certification but sustainable practices that go beyond ratings to satisfy our social responsibilities. The construction industry in general will benefit from an integrated tool that will help optimize the selection process of materials, equipments, and systems at every stage of a proposed building's life. Building information modeling (BIM) has the potential to aid designers to select the right type of materials during the early design stage and to make vital decisions that have great impacts on the life cycle of sustainable buildings.This paper describes a methodology that integrates BIM with the Canadian green building certification system (LEED©). Also, it explains how this integration would assist project teams in making sustainability related decisions while accumulating the required number of points based on the applied green building rating system. The methodology depicts the implementation of a model that automatically calculates the compiled number of LEED certification points and related registration costs for green and certified materials used in designing sustainable buildings all within the concepts of BIM. Using BIM in this methodology will help designers to invent and animate sustainable buildings in 3D mode easily and efficiently at the conceptual stage. The design information of the proposed sustainable building will be produced in a timely manner by using new plug-ins, which are developed for that reason, and which will link the BIM model with an external database that stores sustainable materials and assembly groups. A real case project is presented to illustrate the usefulness and capabilities of the proposed model.