The building sector is one of the most polluting and waste generating industries, therefore, transitioning from wasteful to environmentally friendly economy models is urgent. While the research showing the necessity and benefits of implementing Circular Economy (CE) coupled with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to building projects has gained a lot of traction in the last few years, wide scale industry adoption is far from it. This thesis paper sets out to find lacks in the practices and workflows regarding circularity and to identify the state-of-the-art BIM tools with potential to support the processes. A systematic literature review and interviews with industry professionals are the basis of deriving five main pillars (CE knowledge, BIM expertise, collaboration techniques, early design, and standardization) to support implementation of BIM-based CE practices. The solution is in a form of a process map, which describes a new proposed workflow for early design phases, pushing building projects towards circularity. Important points of the workflow, such as Material Bank (MB) for existing and new buildings, and transitions between design phases are further elaborated on. The outcome and contribution of this research is a standardized project approach that facilitates effective collaboration and knowledge management by integrating BIM and CE model.
Keywords: construction industry, Circular Economy, Building Information Modelling, early design, standardization, collaborative framework