Waste Elimination based on Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Construction waste (CW) is an abstract, high-level concept and difficult to measure systematically. The conventional management methods have failed to translate the reality in the construction industry context. The integrated Lean Construction (LC) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) streamline several proactive and collaborative solutions to address CW at its source across the whole asset lifecycle. This paper adopts the systematic literature review method to (i) understand ‘waste’ and ‘waste elimination’ concepts through LC perspectives and (ii) to review factors of LC-BIM for waste elimination. Based on thematic analysis applied to 54 relevant documents in the Scopus and IGLC databases, some literature was approached. According to thematic analysis applied to the existing LC-BIM approaches, despite the potential of LC-BIM for CW elimination, the current literature lacks the concept of waste elimination in the number and content of publications. The paper highlights some generic recommendations for future theoretical and empirical developments.