BIM for the conservation of early reinforced concrete buildings

Early reinforced concrete commercial building is part of the built environment that must be preserve due to its significant identity, history, and promising continuity to the place. However, these building also tends to be less efficient in delivering energy performance and ensuring human comfort as compared to a modern built reinforced concrete building. Building retrofit is a process to improve performance in traditional building with modern design solution with consideration of limitations that exist in building, resulting a sophisticated design intervention approach. A holistic understanding of these building is necessary for critical intervention planning that resulting in balance between retaining the significant building elements, improving the building performance, and ensuring its relevant to current built environment. The implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) concept for traditional building conservation project is relevant due to its interoperability in promoting efficient stakeholder’s collaborative involvement in contributing to 3D information and semantic data related to the assets into a single digital documentation. An accurate virtual model and information attribute of the building are vital, to understand the historical context, architectural knowledge, building monitoring, conservation of material and planning interventions of a traditionally constructed built environment. The research proposes procedure addressing the process of data acquisition for production of detailed BIM (3D model and semantic data) and retrofit planning from BIM dynamic analysis. The methodologies adopted are systematic literature reviews, BIM case studies analysis, followed by a set of questionnaires to ranges of audience to participate in evaluation and validation of the integrated project. This research advocates the application of BIM for the benefits of documentation, building dissemination, planning intervention and dynamic analysis of early reinforced concrete commercial buildings. BIM digital model enrich with geometric and information attribute that represent physical asset allowing building performance analysis to be carried out without the need for physical intervention to the building during intervention planning stage. Holistic retrofit using BIM methodologies enables in identifying, protecting, and conserving early reinforced concrete building, while results in improvement of building energy efficiency and performance, upgrading human comfort and health, and ensuring safety as part of sustainable development objectives. Keywords: Building Information Modelling (BIM), retrofit planning, building performance analysis, dynamic analysis