Sustainable Building Maintenance: A Systematic Review and the Emerging Role of Building Information Modelling

Abstract

Building maintenance is an important activity across the building's lifecycle, requiring effective strategies to maintain its functionality, safety and comfort. Maintenance has become a strategic sustainability approach to intentionally manage assets and maximize building productivity for longer life. In public institutional buildings, however, maintenance is not integrated into core operational activities, that risks cost overruns and reduced building lifecycle. This issue is particularly important within developing countries where public institutions often operate within financial constrain. Existing literature studies focus on traditional approaches but do not integrate emerging technologies that could help transform the maintenance practice. Therefore, this study performs a systematic literature review (SLR) of recent advancements at the intersection of building maintenance, emerging technologies and sustainability. Our results indicate that with increasing complexities of the built environment and demand for data-driven solutions, digital tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) could serve as an enabler for sustainable maintenance. However, the scale of industry adoption and sustainability impact remain unclear especially in developing countries. Therefore, we propose a conceptual BIM4SM (BIM for sustainable maintenance) framework, to extend the building life with increasing efficiencies and productivity for key stakeholders. This highlights the potential of BIM to support informed decision-making, enhance resource efficiency, and align maintenance activities with broader sustainability goals. The BIM4SM framework would help reimagine BIM as a sustainability-driven decision-making tool, promoting digital transformation in the operations and maintenance phase of a building’s lifecycle. The framework can help facilitate the practitioners, researchers, and policymakers choose more future-resilient building management strategies.