SUSTAINABILITY | INSIGHT


BIM BOOSTS LIFE CYCLES


A Working Group report last year issued by ITA-AITES focuses on how using Building Information Modelling (BIM) can boost sustainable life cycle management for underground infrastructure assets.


How Building Information Modelling (BIM) can help deliver better sustainability performance for life cycle management of tunnels was discussed in an excellent guideline issued last year by the International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA-AITES). The report is the outcome of studies by Working Group 22 and takes forward tunnelling information management. WG22 says that infrastructure projects, particularly


tunnels, have significant environmental impacts due to extensive resource use and exposure to natural hazards and, as such, there needs to an effective way to address the challenges, one that, advisably, integrates environmental, economic, and social dimensions into the development of an underground asset. Such a framework is proposed in the report - ‘Tunnelling information modelling: A BIM approach for a sustainable life cycle management’. The BIM-based framework, aligned with UN Sustainable


Development Goals (SDGs), outlines how sustainable practices can be embedded early in project development, flowing into design, construction, and asset management. It considers setting requirements during strategic planning, designing and constructing with low-carbon materials, real-time monitoring of sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) during construction, and transitioning from Project Information Models (PIM) to Asset Information Models (AIM) for sustainable operation and maintenance using digital twins. The framework does not focus on one type of tunnel


or only on entirely new tunnel construction projects. As WG22 says, the guideline aims to support all stakeholders all projects, whether new build or renovation of existing underground infrastructure, and however excavations may take place, such as conventional or mechanical. To achieve this objective, the guideline draws upon


a BIM methodology to address best practices during the whole lifecycle of a tunnel by: ● identifying how BIM and digital tools can support stakeholders in making informed decisions about the tunnel lifecycle;


● facilitating a comprehensive journey of new digital solutions available throughout the lifecycle;


● providing a pragmatic framework to demonstrate the delivery of sustainability goals and define relevant BIM use cases;


● enabling a data-driven dynamic environmental impact assessment; and,


OPERATION AND


MAINTENANCE CONSTRUCTION


● promoting material reuse, energy efficiency and mitigating overall carbon footprint.


Additionally, the guideline stresses


the importance of interoperability. Doing so will help provide a sound and robust basis to apply BIM in further use cases and to implement other technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) to help pursue delivery of better sustainability outcomes in tunnelling projects.


GUIDELINE STRUCTURE The contents of the guideline is, as said, excellent. The map it lays out is valuable, and the steer given. The format of the guideline, though, is styled as a journal paper, as was first carried in TUST and is repeated. So, the publication is not as a report would


be - there is no Contents section to usefully, and practically, detail the structure of what is to come. While there is an abstract, as for a journal paper, there is no Foreword as would open a report and discuss more. Neither is there an Index - but that is the case for most reports in fact, and unfortunately, which hinders readiness of thumbing through, back and forward, in early reading and immersion, and familiarisation, and then rapid ease of reference for


Above: Cover of the report.


Below: Project major phases


DEMOLITION, END OF LIFE


PLANNING AND DESIGN


June 2026 | 41


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