Circular and sustainable: how BIM is transforming construction

Plasterboard, render or insulation installed in a building today should ideally not end up as unidentified waste decades later. To enable materials to be reused or recycled to a high standard, however, it must remain possible to identify what the building contains. This is precisely where BIM and the circular economy intersect: the digital building model can link product and material information to the relevant component and its installation location.

Sustainable materials such as recyclable plasterboard or lower-emission construction products are an important element in reducing the use of primary raw materials and environmental impacts. Yet the individual material is not the only decisive factor. How it is installed, connected to other materials and later separated is equally important. BIM provides a foundation for recording relevant product and material information in a structured form and making it available for design and subsequent use. Victoria Renz-Kiefel, Director of Supply Chain Management at Saint-Gobain Weber Switzerland, emphasises: 'BIM is the tool of choice for significantly simplifying the selection and documentation of recyclable or reusable materials. This is crucial because the complexity of the requirements - from carbon footprint to recyclability - exceeds what traditional design methods can handle.'

Integrating product and system data into digital models enables architects to check early whether a construction material is not only recyclable, but also used in a way that preserves future reuse or high-quality recovery. A plasterboard panel provides a concrete example: gypsum is inherently recyclable, but efficient reuse or high-quality recycling requires consideration of the entire system, including its connections and whether its individual layers can later be separated.

According to Renz-Kiefel, 'information at different levels - from material to system level - must be integrated into the BIM model'. Another challenge is carrying design information through into the building actually constructed. 'We need to ensure that what is designed in the as-planned model is actually installed in the as-built model,' she explains. Mobile applications that allow materials to be easily registered and checked on site could help. This would document not only what was originally intended, but which specific product was ultimately installed and where.

A circular approach to construction

The principle of material circularity aims to prevent waste. Products and materials are designed from the outset so that, at the end of their life cycle, they can wherever possible be reused, recycled or used as secondary raw materials for new products. BIM can help by linking the relevant information about materials, components and systems to the building and keeping it accessible over the long term.

„BIM can make the whole process easier, particularly because sustainability can become very complex very quickly.“

Victoria Renz-Kiefel stresses that the challenge often lies in a 'fragmented landscape of tools': 'From carbon calculations to building physics, we use different software, leading to laborious workarounds.' The solution, however, does not necessarily involve storing all data in a single BIM model. What matters is that different applications can access reliable information and exchange it through standardised interfaces. This also shifts BIM's role. The model does not have to become a database for every piece of product information. Instead, it can establish the relationship between building, component and product and ensure that the information required is available at the right point in the process.

The Digital Product Passport becomes part of the data landscape

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is firmly embedded in the European legal framework. The new EU Construction Products Regulation 2024/3110 entered into force on 7 January 2025, with its main provisions applying from 8 January 2026. It establishes a dedicated system of Digital Product Passports for construction products. The DPP is intended to make product information digital, machine-readable and accessible throughout the life cycle. The Construction Products Regulation provides for the declaration of performance and conformity, among other required product information, to be made available through this system. Environmental information also becomes significantly more important under the new regulation. Manufacturers must progressively declare specified environmental characteristics based on life-cycle assessments for the product groups covered.

The technical infrastructure is also no longer merely on paper. The European Digital Product Passport Registry has been operating since July 2026. Unique product identifiers and associated metadata are registered there. The full product information itself is stored in a decentralised manner. At the same time, the first harmonised standards have been published, including for unique identifiers, interfaces, data exchange and storage. For construction products, however, this does not mean every product already requires a Digital Product Passport today. The Construction Products Regulation is being implemented progressively by product family. Under current plans, the European Commission envisages specific DPP requirements for construction products in 2027.

This is precisely why standardisation remains central. 'We need standardised interfaces so manufacturers can continuously update their product information,' Renz-Kiefel argues. For example, a render considered non-recyclable today could be assessed differently in 15 years because of technological advances. Instead of permanently freezing today's information in a BIM object, a unique product identifier can link to an information source that is kept up to date. This also fits the Digital Product Passport's architecture: the EU registry does not store all product data centrally, but unique identifiers and metadata through which the relevant product passport can still be found.

This opens up an interesting prospect for BIM. The building model could document which product was installed where, while current manufacturer and product information remains accessible through the Digital Product Passport or connected data sources. If, for example, the assessment of recyclability changes years later or new information about a material becomes available, it would not necessarily have to be updated retrospectively in every building model.
'This creates the basis for the long-term use and updating of material data - an essential prerequisite for circular construction,' Renz-Kiefel emphasises.

New technologies and collaboration are the building blocks

Despite BIM's many benefits for circular construction, challenges remain. According to Renz-Kiefel, 'manufacturers must comprehensively collect and provide their data'. This involves more than individual sustainability indicators. Product information must be structured, unambiguously identifiable and usable across different software solutions. The Construction Products Regulation and Digital Product Passport are making the framework more concrete, but implementation in individual product groups is still partly at an early stage.

„BIM provides the foundation that makes sustainable construction possible.“

Tools also often lack comprehensive integration. BIM authoring software, life-cycle assessment programs, product databases, material inventories and building operation applications are still far from working together seamlessly everywhere. At the same time, new European requirements are creating common structures for product identification, interfaces and data exchange. The challenge is therefore increasingly less about producing data in the first place. What matters is which information is needed, who is responsible for its quality and updating, and how it remains available throughout design, construction, operation and deconstruction.

Training is another obstacle: many construction professionals lack the necessary expertise. Renz-Kiefel calls for more continuing education to remove barriers and make digital design and sustainability accessible to everyone. Building these skills is particularly important for the circular economy. A Digital Product Passport alone does not make a building circular. Only when product data is connected with design, actual installation, operation and later deconstruction does a robust information chain emerge. 'BIM is the foundation we need to build sustainably,' Renz-Kiefel concludes.