The University of Seville, which together with Datacomp participates in the European project Urban BIM, showed how it uses a strong IFC model analysis tool such as the BIM Vision plug-in, Advanced Reports. The University has been conducting Life Cycle Analysis for several years and is a leader in this matter in Spain and is currently also examining the environmental performance of buildings, which is measured by indicators such as the Carbon Footprint, Energy Consumption (Embodied Energy) and Water Footprint.
The digital model was made in the ArchiCAD system and the appropriate environmental properties of the materials were defined there.
The model consists of a street section with a sidewalk and bicycle path, parking lot and playground. The model uses materials whose impact on the environment depends on the measured dimensions (e.g. road surface, pavement) and also those that are counted as units (wooden bench, lamp, etc.).
BIMvision allows you to read all these properties:
In BIMvision, we also have the ability to read the surface and volume of given elements, which makes it easier for us to calculate global impact on the environment.
The plugin Advanced Reports
helps us to define the report we need. Going to the Columns tab, press the Add button
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We choose the appropriate properties that you will want to present.
And we get the composition of our columns:
The Preview option shows us tabularly defined columns and their values, which are partially defined by the designer and we read them and partly we calculate ourselves by multiplying the take-off measurements by environmental indicators.
The whole can be saved in an excel file and can be further processed. By clicking the Color column on the Columns tab for a given size, Advanced Reports allows us to define carbon footprint ranges and assign the appropriate color to these ranges.
The carbon footprint values range between -0.041 (wooden bench) and 13.37 (concrete pavement). And this is how the model’s impact on the environment looks like



Determining these amounts is an introduction to determining the production costs of the elements. By using cost databases (e.g. iTEC BEDEC database from Barcelona and also ACCD – Andalusia Construction Cost Database) it is possible to calculate in detail CO2 emissions according to the project quantification.
Databases clearly define what and how to measure in BIM objects. Suppliers would have to tailor environmental information to the way products are traditionally measured and included in project budgets, and can be a reliable way to introduce environmental assessment in construction.
Advanced Reports can graphically and analytically show carbon footprints and assess at the modelling stage. Advanced Reports is certainly a powerful tool in model verification.
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