Sustainable Building Design Using BIM Software Solutions

Sustainable building design calls for finding new ways to lower your project’s footprint from the initial design through to producing certified LCA reports. Find out how the Tekla Embedded Carbon Calculator can help you make informed environmental decisions on project materials and methods.

As the world becomes more aware of the impact human activities have on the environment, the construction industry is being pushed to reduce its carbon footprint and design more sustainable buildings.

Sustainable structural design is becoming a complex task, with a range of considerations, involving material choices, energy consumption, and waste management. One particularly time-consuming task can be working out your structure’s embodied carbon levels.

Tekla software products from Trimble® can automatically calculate your structure’s embedded carbon values. Increasingly, in all jurisdictions, environmental authorities are calling for lifecycle assessment (LCA) reporting, Tekla’s applications simplify LCA compliance for structural designers and engineers.

Making Projects “Greener by Design”

Tekla is committed to helping you make your projects “greener by design.” Tekla software can help you find ways to impact your project’s carbon handprint from the initial design through to producing certified LCA reports.

The software’s Embedded Carbon features enable designers to estimate and minimize the carbon footprint of projects during the design stage. Tekla Structures and Tekla Structural Designer include these tools for structural designers and engineers during this initial project phase.

With these new tools, you can evaluate and enhance your available design options, get a clear idea of the carbon handprint in your building information model (BIM) and make sound, evidence-based design choices.

The Tekla Embedded Carbon Calculator enables you to break down the embodied carbon values and split out results according to the type of structural material, member, slab or other variables. You can also locate the points within your structure with the highest levels of embedded carbon.

With access to this level of detail within the Tekla application, you can analyze your structural data in more depth. Then, you can apply the results from that analysis to reduce your project’s environmental impact and carbon emissions.

OneClick LCA Integration

Going beyond the internal software functionality, Tekla Structural Designer, Trimble Connect and Tekla Structures can all exchange data with OneClick LCA. That’s the lifecycle assessment software that enables you to review and plan for the lifecycle assessment of your building projects in more depth.

Using OneClick LCA, you can route your design quantities to an LCA database containing an extensive collection of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), both local and international. You can also acquire your certified project LCA.

If you’re an environmental engineer, you can use OneClick LCA to produce LCAs on the building project’s carbon impact for local building authorities and building owners. OneClick LCA contains a range of internationally authorized, certified LCA reports, including Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment (BREEAM) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) formats.

You can learn more about OneClick LCA integration here.

Tekla embodied carbon calculation options

Here’s a summary of the features included with each of your Tekla options.

Tekla Structures embodied carbon calculation

• Link to components in the building information model (BIM)
• Calculate carbon impact on the fly
• Conceptualize options and impacts
• Produce reports and export data from Tekla Structures
• Accessible for all Tekla Structures customers on maintenance or subscription in Tekla Warehouse
• No user-created ECFs or EPDs
• No certified LCA reporting

Tekla Structural Designer embodied carbon calculation

• Link to components in the building information model (BIM)
• Calculate carbon impact on the fly
• Conceptualize options and impacts
• Produce reports and export from Tekla Structures
• Accessible for all Tekla Structures customers on maintenance or subscription in Tekla Warehouse
• No user-created ECFs or EPDs
• No certified LCA reporting
• Regional availability

OneClick LCA Integration with Trimble Connect, Tekla Structures or Tekla Structural Designer

• Benchmark and optimize products with carbon data
• Obtain certified LCA report document (e.g., BREEAM, LEED)
• Create Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) from a detailed building information model
• No link to objects in the building information model
• No dynamic calculation
• Cannot be visualized in the model
• OneClick LCA sold separately

Reduce Environmental Impact

Tekla’s latest software tools allow designers and engineers to optimize their designs for embodied carbon levels and make informed decisions about material selection and construction methods. Why not call BuildingPoint Canada today to discuss how you can reduce the environmental impact of your new buildings throughout their entire life cycle?