Investigating the Digital Effective Criteria for Sustainable Construction in Norway

The construction industry generates substantial amounts of waste and contributes to increasing the amount of waste in landfills. To reach the Sustainability Development Goals, the construction industry needs to further develop waste management (WM) strategies. The research was conducted to understand the major reasons behind the waste management issues and possible solutions for the Norwegian construction industry. The quantitative data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire survey distributed to construction professionals in Norway. The data were assessed with a correlation analysis and structural equation modelling (SEM) to understand the causal relations between input factors (i.e., industry related factors; project related factors; company related factors) towards waste management for sustainable construction. The data analysis resulted in identifying a highly supported relationship between project-related factors and Building Information Modelling (BIM) effectiveness for waste management and a mediating effect between the factors. The main barriers to BIM effectiveness for WM identified from the quantitative data were lack of BIM standards and procedures for waste management, early planning for waste management, communication between disciplines and knowledge of how to utilise BIM for WM. The research recommends useful insights for the waste management for sustainable construction at all three important levels of industry, company and project for sustainable construction management.