Challenges of construction 4.0 in circular construction: the role of stakeholders as barriers or drivers for change

The sector of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) has particular characteristics that have made the digital transition to "Construction 4.0" slower than in other industrial sectors. The construction industry is a perfect example of an interorganizational project, where value is created jointly for agents from different organizations. The adoption of the required new technologies goes beyond the search for efficiency. It has been identified in recent literature that the transformation in the AEC sector is closely linked to the inclusion of practices, by all stakeholders, that improve sustainability and embrace circular economy strategies, as is the case in other industrial sectors. A sector-specific characteristic that impacts digital transformation is the highly fragmented decision-making processes, due to the number of stakeholders involved, the poor communication and collaboration between stakeholders and the difficulties in managing and sharing the information and knowledge. Therefore, the integration of those practices is still limited. BIM methodologies were adopted as a driving force for changing the construction system, management methodologies by promoting collaboration throughout the value chain that enables accurate, well-informed decisions to be made throughout the lifecycle, as well as bringing the opportunity for integration of all of digital information (Pacios Álvarez et al., 2021) (Pacios Alvarez et al., 2020). Based on LEVEL(s) document (EC, 2020), which presents a voluntary framework that addresses the principles of circular design where the stakeholders experience along the building value chain is collected, the role of the actors involved in building throughout the life cycle will be reviewed. The pillars of the Level(s) framework are three basic principles of circular economy: durability, adaptability and waste reduction, as well as facilitating the quality management of waste. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to answer the following research question: how can the ‘stakeholders’ management framework accelerate the transition towards the circular construction? The purpose of this article is to review the extent to which the role of all stakeholders, technical, economic and legal, can contribute to meet these circular objectives or basic principles in a collaborative work. An exploratory research approach was used, which consisted of a systematic scientific literature review on the stakeholders management framework and the stakeholders’ role and responsibilities in addressing circular construction, using Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. The results are analyzed.