Construction Productivity Impacts of Forecasted Global Warming Trends Utilizing an Integrated Information Modeling Approach

The objective of this study is to develop a proof-of-concept framework to quantify the impact of the anticipated rise in temperature and humidity change on construction productivity at a project level as a result of global warming. The developed framework applies building information modeling (BIM) integrated with labor productivity information, critical path method (CPM) schedule, and a temperature-and-humidity-versus-labor-productivity model to simulate the global warming effect on a structural steel erection model project. To demonstrate the application of the developed framework, one domestic and six international cities’ 2090-2099 climate projection data, derived from existing global climate models with different greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions scenarios, were used as input data for the simulation to quantify the workhours required to build the model project. The results for the selected locations show that the impact of global warming on construction productivity varies with geographical location and that different climate models produce varied results.