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In recent years, augmented reality (AR) has shown its potential to assist various construction activities. Its use commonly requires additional refinement to be integrated into the building information modeling (BIM) process. Nevertheless, few studies have investigated AR implementation in BIM-enabled projects because of numerous challenges related to its implementation. This study aims to investigate the implementation of AR in construction and identify the critical mechanisms for implementing BIM-AR successfully.

A mixed methodology was adopted for this study. First, this work presents a bibliometric analysis covering articles obtained from Scopus database published between 2000 and 2022. A sample size of 65 research papers pertinent to AR in construction was analyzed using VOSviewer software. Second, a participatory case study was conducted for a BIM-enabled project in China to gain insight into how BIM-AR implementation in construction is achieved.

The findings from the bibliometric analysis show an increasing interest in AR research within construction. The results indicate that AR research focuses on four clusters: real-time communication, project management, construction activities and education. Findings from the case study provide an empirical experience of AR application scenarios in a BIM-enabled project. Concomitantly, 15 critical success factors that influence BIM-AR implementation were finally identified and demonstrated.

This study provides a rich insight into the understanding and awareness of implementing AR. First, the findings are beneficial to construction practitioners and researchers because they provide a concentrated perspective of AR for emerging activities in the construction industry. Second, the results obtained from the case study could provide a useful guide for effectively implementing AR in a BIM-enabled construction project. Overall, this study may stimulate further research on AR-related studies in construction, such as BIM integration, factor analysis and construction education.

The Operations and Maintenance (O&M) cost of a facility is typically 60–85% of the total life cycle cost of a building whereas its design and construction cost accounts for only 5–10%. Therefore, enhancing and optimizing the O&M of a facility is a crucial issue. In addition, with the increasing complexities in a building's operating systems, more technologically advanced solutions are required for proactively maintaining a facility. Thereby, a tool is needed which can optimize and reduce the cost of facility maintenance. One of the solutions is Augmented or Mixed Reality (AR/MR) technologies which can reduce repair time, training time and streamline inspections. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish contextual knowledge of AR/MR application in facilities operation and maintenance and present an implementation framework through the analysis and classification of articles published between 2015 and 2022.

To effectively understand all AR/MR applications in facilities management (FM), a systematic literature review is performed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol was followed for searching and describing the search strategies. Keywords were identified through the concept mapping technique. The Scopus database and Google Scholar were employed to find relevant articles, books and conference papers. A thorough bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOS Viewer and subsequently, a thematic analysis was performed for the selected publications.

The use of AR/MR within facilities O&M could be categorized into five different application areas: (1) visualization; (2) maintenance; (3) indoor localization and positioning; (4) information management and (5) indoor environment. After a thematic analysis of the literature, it was found that maintenance and indoor localization were the most frequently used research application domains. The chronological evolution of AR/MR in FM is also presented along with the origin of publications, which showed that the technology is out of its infancy stage and is ready for implementation. However, literature showed many challenges hindering this goal, that is (1) reluctance of the organizational leadership to bear the cost of hardware and trainings for the employees, (2) Lack of BIM use in FM and (3) system lagging, crashing and unable to register the real environment. A preliminary framework is presented to overcome these challenges.

This study accommodates a variety of application domains within facilities O&M. The publications were systematically selected from the existing literature and then reviewed to exhibit various AR/MR applications to support FM. There have been no literature reviews that focus on AR and/or MR in the FM and this paper fills the gap by not only presenting its applications but also developing an implementation framework.

Previous studies have established to a great extent that regulatory frameworks and, in particular, procurement approaches – that are common in a particular context – have a major impact on the success of building information modelling (BIM) implementation in construction projects. Despite the close links between these two concepts, research on the effect of procurement approaches on BIM implementation is scarce. To address this gap, this paper aims to investigate the barriers that affect BIM implementation through the lens of procurement approaches.

A mixed-method approach was adopted using a questionnaire survey (n = 116) and interviews with key stakeholders (n = 12) in Jordan. The outcomes of the quantitative parts were augmented with findings from interviews.

It was revealed that the deployment of unfavourable construction procurement approaches represents a major hurdle towards BIM implementation. Though essential for enhancing BIM implementation, it is revealed that a fundamental change from the common design-bid-build (DBB) to more collaborative procurement approaches remains infeasible in view of the realities that govern the construction industry.

It was revealed the deployment of unfavourable construction procurement approaches represents a major hurdle towards BIM implementation. Though essential for enhancing BIM implementation, it is revealed that a fundamental change from the common DBB to more collaborative procurement approaches remains infeasible given the realities that govern the construction industry.

As the first of its kind, a set of recommendations for establishing supportive, workable procurement that does not deviate significantly from common procedures and practices is presented. Rather than advocating a shift to procurement approaches that are aligned with BIM, the findings offer novel insight into the necessity of developing a framework within the boundaries of the current and widely adopted procurement approaches to address the identified construction procurement issues and facilitate BIM implementation.

This paper presents a developed BIMxAR application, an integration of building information modeling (BIM) with augmented reality (AR) linked with real-time online database to support the building facility management work. The primary aim of this research was to develop and empirically examine the applicability of a BIM-based AR (BIMxAR) application in building facility management.

The BIMxAR application was developed and experimented with maintenance work of a university laboratory building. The experiment consisted of a comparison of supportive maintenance tasks performed using the traditional approach and the BIMxAR approach by 38 university students. The time taken to complete each task was recorded and analyzed using statistical analyses to compare the performance between the tasks completed using each approach.

The results indicated that the group using the BIMxAR application approach completed the tasks correctly in a significantly shorter time compared to that using the traditional approach. The findings supported the applicability of the developed BIMxAR application and the improvement of the building facility management tasks when using the proposed approach.

This paper presents a methodological approach in developing a mobile application that integrates BIM with AR for facility management work, leveraging real-time information exchange through a cloud-based platform. The paper also provides empirical evidence that demonstrates how the integration between BIM and AR could be achieved and implemented to help facilitate building maintenance tasks.

Extended reality (XR) is an emerging technology, with its popularity rising in different industry sectors, where its application has been recently considered in construction safety. This study aims to investigate the applications of XR technologies in the safety of construction through projects lifecycle perspective.

Scientometric analysis was conducted to discover trends, keywords, contribution of countries and publication outlets in the literature. The content analysis was applied to categorize previous studies into three groups concerning the phase of lifecycle in which they used XR.

Results of the content analysis showed that the application of XR in the construction safety is mostly covered in two areas, namely, safety training and risk management. It was found that virtual reality was the most used XR tool with most of its application dedicated to safety training in the design phase. The amount of research on the application of augmented reality and mixed reality in safety training, and risk management in all phases of lifecycle is still insignificant. Finally, this study proposed three main areas for using the XR technologies regarding the safety issues in future research, namely, control of safety regulations and safety coordination in construction phase, and safety reports in the operation phase.

This paper inspected the utilization of all types of XR for safety in each phase of construction lifecycle and proposed future directions for research by addressing the safety challenges in each phase.

Current research efforts exhibit a surge imperative for a building information modelling (BIM) approach that embodies a repository of all relevant data of existing building components while monitoring and consistently recording numerous components’ functions throughout its lifecycle, especially in Egypt. This research paper aims to develop an integrated as-is BIM-facility management (FM) information model for the existing building’s components via a case study, depicting a repository for historical data and knowledge amassed from inspections and conveying maintenance decisions automatically during the FM practices.

The developed approach pursues four successive steps: data acquisition and processing of building components; components recognition from point clouds; modelling scanned point clouds; and quick response code information transfer to BIM components.

The proposed approach incorporates the as-is BIM with the building components’ as-is FM information to portray a repository for historical data and knowledge collected from inspections to proactively benefit facility managers in simplifying, expediting and enhancing maintenance decisions automatically during FM practices.

This paper presents a digital alternative to manual maintenance recordkeeping concerning building components to retrieve their as-is and historical data using a case study in Egypt. This paper proposes a broad scan to as-is information BIM approach for the existing building’s components to condone maintenance interventions using a versatile, affordable, readily available and multi-functional method for scanning the building’s components using a handheld tool.

Construction is a risky industry. Therefore, organizations are seeking ways towards improving their safety performance. Among these, the integration of technology into health and safety leads to enhanced safety performance. Considering the benefits observed in using technology in safety, this study aims to explore digital technologies' use and potential benefits in construction health and safety.

An extensive bibliometrics analysis was conducted to reveal which technologies are at the forefront of others and how these technologies are used in safety operations. The study used two different databases, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, to scan the literature in a systemic way.

The systemic analysis of several studies showed that the digital technologies use in construction are still a niche theme and need more assessment. The study provided that sensors and wireless technology are of utmost importance in terms of construction safety. Moreover, the study revealed that artificial intelligence, machine learning, building information modeling (BIM), sensors and wireless technologies are trending technologies compared to unmanned aerial vehicles, serious games and the Internet of things. On the other hand, the study provided that the technologies are even more effective with integrated use like in the case of BIM and sensors or unmanned aerial vehicles. It was observed that the use of these technologies varies with respect to studies conducted in different countries. The study further revealed that the studies conducted on this topic are mostly published in some selected journals and international collaboration efforts in terms of researching the topic have been observed.

This study provides an extensive analysis of WoS and Scopus databases and an in-depth review of the use of digital technologies in construction safety. The review consists of the most recent studies showing the benefits of using such technologies and showing the usage on a systemic level from which both scientists and practitioners can benefit to devise new strategies in technology usage.

Many buildings fail to meet user expectations, causing a performance gap. Pre-occupancy evaluation (PrOE) is believed to have the potential to close the gap. It enables designers to obtain end-user feedback in the design phase and improve the design for better performance. However, PrOE implementation faces challenges due to still maturing knowledgebase. This study aims to understand the state-of-the-art knowledge of PrOE, thereby identifying future research needs to advance the domain.

A systematic literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework was conducted. A thorough search in five databases and Google Scholar retrieved 90 articles, with 30 selected for systematic review after eliminating duplicates and irrelevant articles. Bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer and Biblioshiny on the article metadata, and thematic analyses were conducted on their contents.

PrOE is a vehicle for engaging building end-users in the design phase to address the credibility gap caused by the discrepancies between the expected and actual performance of buildings. PrOE has gained limited applications in healthcare, residential, office and educational building design for two broad purposes: design management and marketing. Using virtual reality technologies for PrOE has demonstrated significant benefits. Yet, the PrOE domain needs to mature in multiple perspectives to serve its intended purpose effectively.

This study identifies four knowledge gaps for future research to advance the PrOE domain: (1) developing a holistic PrOE framework, integrating comprehensive performance evaluation criteria, useable at different stages of the design phase and multi-criteria decision algorithms, (2) developing a mixed reality tool, embodying the holistic PrOE framework, (3) formulating a PrOE framework for adaptive reuse of buildings and (4) managing uncertainties in user requirements during the lifecycle in PrOE decisions.

This paper aims to explore augmented reality (AR) applications in construction safety academic literature and propose possible improvements for future scholarly works. The paper explicitly focuses on AR integration with Construction 4.0 technologies as an effective solution to safety concerns in the construction industry.

This study applied a systematic review approach. In total, 387 potentially relevant articles from databases were identified. Once filtering criteria were applied, 29 eligible papers where selected. The inclusion criteria were being directly associated with construction safety focused on an AR application and AR interactions associated with the Construction 4.0 technologies.

This study investigated the structure of AR applications in construction safety. To this end, the authors studied the safety purposes of AR applications in construction safety: pre-event (intelligent operation, training, safety inspection and hazard alerting), during-event (pinpointing hazard) and post-event (safety estimation) applications. Then, the integration of AR with Construction 4.0 technologies was elaborated. The systematic review also revealed that the AR integration has contributed to developing several technical aspects of AR technology: display, tracking and human–computer interaction. The study results indicate that AR integration with construction is effective in mitigating safety concerns; however, further research studies are required to support this statement.

This study contributes to exploring applications and integrations of AR into construction safety in order to facilitate the leverage of this technology. This review can help encourage practitioners and researchers to conduct further academic investigations into AR application in construction safety.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) holds the potential to significantly improve capabilities and performances for architectural, engineering, construction and operation and maintenance (AECO) companies in India. The top management of such companies seems unsure and reluctant to implementation of the 4IR applications. The objective of this research is to identify the 4IR technology applications, which would have a significant impact on the operation of the AECO companies in India. Moreover, the paper further attempts to give a conceptual roadmap for the implementation of these 4IR technologies in the AECO value chain.

The nascent level of research in 4IR in construction necessitated the adoption of mixed methodologies in research. Hypothesis testing has been carried out on the quantitative data to ascertain the potential of 4IR technologies, which could significantly impact the AECO companies. Subsequently, qualitative research has been used to explore the reasons impacting the technology adoption and generate a possible road map for the implementation of the significant 4IR technology applications.

The AECO value chain is challenged due to its complexity, uncertainty, fragmented supply chains, myopic thinking and a culture reluctant to change. The study provides insights into the dilemmas of practitioners in the Indian context while exploring possible approaches to carry out the transformation in AECO.

The study validation relied on the opinions, perspectives and recollections of respondents. The opinion of practicing professionals was limited to the Indian context.

The article may help leaders of AECO firms, industry associations, policymakers and academia to take steps in relevant directions to enable digital transformation.