Semantic BIM and GIS modelling for energy-efficient buildings integrated in a healthcare district

The subject of energy-efficient buildings (EeB) is among the most urgent research priorities in the European Union (EU). In order to
achieve the broadest impact, innovative approaches to EeB need to resolve challenges at the neighbourhood level, instead of only
focusing on improvements of individual buildings. For this purpose, the design phase of new building projects as well as building
retrofitting projects is the crucial moment for integrating multi-scale EeB solutions.
In EeB design process, clients, architects, technical designers, contractors, and end-users altogether need new methods and tools for
designing energy-efficiency buildings integrated in their neighbourhoods. Since the scope of designing covers multiple dimensions,
the new design methodology relies on the inter-operability between Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geospatial
Information Systems (GIS). Design for EeB optimisation needs to put attention on the inter-connections between the architectural
systems and the MEP/HVAC systems, as well as on the relation of Product Lifecycle Modelling (PLM), Building Management
Systems (BMS), BIM and GIS.
This paper is descriptive and it presents an actual EU FP7 large-scale collaborative research project titled STREAMER. The research
on the inter-operability between BIM and GIS for holistic design of energy-efficient buildings in neighbourhood scale is supported
by real case studies of mixed-use healthcare districts. The new design methodology encompasses all scales and all lifecycle phases of
the built environment, as well as the whole lifecycle of the information models that comprises: Building Information Model (BIM),
Building Assembly Model (BAM), Building Energy Model (BEM), and Building Operation Optimisation Model (BOOM