# A Systematic Review of the Role of BIM in Building Sustainability Assessment Methods
## 1 Introduction
[PERSON] and [PERSON] [11] argued that BSA methods should be used from the preliminary design stages, creating an integrated process and a more significant impact on the project. Designers are provided with detailed information to select the best sustainable solutions, allowing for the efficient development of high-performance buildings [12]. When BIM is used to improve the sustainability of a project, savings can reach up to 20% of the total project cost in 10 years [10]. In recent years, the attention of researchers about the application of BIM to facilitate the practical implementation of BSA methods has increased [8; 13; 14; 15]. BSA method developers were driven to find new ways to integrate their products in this new paradigm [16; 17]. To date, several criteria from different BSA methods have already been assessed with BIM. However, BIM it is still not used comprehensively in the implementation of the BSA methods [5]. The assessment of BSA methods exploits the full potential of BIM for building sustainability, as multi-disciplinary data must be assessed, with different BIM analyses and software. Among the most common advantages of using BIM to evaluate BSA methods, are the easier and faster data assessment, the resource-use reduction (time, money and human), improved process efficiency, automatic calculations and modifications updates [8; 9; 18; 19]. With BIM, designers can quickly compare the sustainability performance of different solutions and select the ones that optimise the sustainability level of the project. Facing the potential capabilities of BIM for BSA methods, a review study from [PERSON] [20] proposes that future BIM standards should include the requirements for a building sustainability assessment. Despite all the benefits, the scientific community have identified a set of existing limitations. Some issues are the lack of platforms and tools to assess building sustainability, the need to use several BIM tools to evaluate a single BSA method, the stakeholder awareness of sustainable issues or the interoperability restrictions between software [9; 20; 21]. A recent review from [PERSON] et al. [15] has also identified a lack of research that considers all dimensions of sustainability, reinforcing [PERSON] and [PERSON]'s [11] position. These authors have also affirmed that the full potential of BIM to sustainable construction is yet to be explored. Researchers suggest that future platforms and tools should be further developed to embrace more sustainable issues, and exchange format files should be improved to reduce errors when transferring BIM models (reducing the need for model checking and remodelling) [9; 13; 21]. Up to date, a set of generic reviews have been made about the application of BIM in sustainability issues [8; 14; 20]. Most of them are focused on the project phases, where BIM can enhance building sustainability. Therefore, there is still a lack of research about the practical implementation of BIM to assess specific BSA criteria with case studies. In a review from [PERSON] et al. [22], some frameworks and practical assessments were identified, but few insights were given about the most effective software and topic trend. However, they still have identified that most researchers tend to use BIM to assess LEED criteria (both for frameworks and practical assessments), with few BIM-based assessments on other BSA schemes. [PERSON] et al. [9] were one of the first researchers to approach the topic in 2011, by proposing a BIM framework that was able to assess 17 credits and two prerequisites from LEED. In practice, they have only assessed six credits and one prerequisite from LEED v2.2, which was significant progress at the time. More recently, [PERSON] and [PERSON] [23; 24] were able to assess a total of five prerequisites and 33 credits from LEED v3 (that belong to six different sustainability categories) with a BIM-based procedure. Despite the greater focus on LEED, some approaches to other assessment schemes have been made. [PERSON] et al.