Challenge
Sustainability advice carries the most weight at the earliest design stage - but climate data was scattered across separate tools and files, making it hard to compare choices and optimise as a design developed.
Solution
Real-Time LCA reads directly from the firm’s BIM model, gathering design and material data in one place so carbon analysis happens alongside the daily design work.
Result
More data collected in a single model, faster comparison of design options, and a sustainability conversation that runs from the first client meeting through to the finished design.
For Tegnestuen Blå Streg, sustainability is something to advise clients on from the very first conversation - well before a design takes shape.
Once the work moves into modelling, Real-Time LCA reads directly from the firm’s BIM model, gathering design and material data in one place. That makes it easier to compare options, optimise the process, and keep the climate conversation going through every stage of the project.
Advice before drawing the first line
Tegnestuen Blå Streg works from a simple conviction: the choices that shape a building’s climate footprint are made early - in the conversations and decisions that happen before anything is drawn. A building that is planned well from the outset is healthier to live in, cheaper to own over time, and lighter on the environment. For the practice, that is not a trade-off but a single, connected goal.
Acting on that conviction meant being able to advise clients with real data in hand from the start - benchmarks and datapoints that support informed decisions before any sketching or modelling has begun - rather than waiting for a design to settle before assessing its impact. The obstacle was practical. Climate-relevant information lived in different places - model data here, material figures there, calculations somewhere else - which made it slow to see how one choice measured against another while a design was still taking shape.
“Sustainability in construction, for us, means giving clients holistic advice from the beginning - even before we draw the first line on paper. A well-considered building is healthier, cheaper for the owner over time, and better for the environment and for society.” - Tine M. Brandstrup, Architect, Tegnestuen Blå Streg
Everything in one model
The change Tegnestuen Blå Streg points to is straightforward and, for them, decisive: BIM. Real-Time LCA reads directly from the firm’s BIM model, so the design and material data needed for a climate assessment is gathered in the same place the architects already work. The carbon analysis itself happens in Real-Time LCA, drawing on the model rather than asking the team to maintain a separate set of files.
Collecting more data in a single model has a direct effect on the work. Inputs and outputs sit side by side, so comparing one construction or material choice against another becomes part of the design process rather than a separate exercise at the end. As a design develops, the climate picture develops with it - which is what makes early, data-backed advice possible in the first place.
“The advantage is very simple - BIM. We collect more data in the same model, which makes it easier to compare input and output and to optimise the process as we go.” - Tine M. Brandstrup, Architect, Tegnestuen Blå Streg
A greener industry, one project at a time
Bringing climate data into the design process this early changes the conversation with clients. Material choices and their consequences become something the practice and the client can weigh together, with figures rather than impressions - and from a point in the project where those choices still carry their full weight.
For Tegnestuen Blå Streg, that is also where the professional satisfaction lies. The ambition reaches past any single building: the practice wants to help move the wider construction industry in a greener direction, and being able to advise well from the first conversation is how that ambition becomes concrete work.
“It makes us happier as consultants, because we want to help turn the building industry greener.” - Tine M. Brandstrup, Architect, Tegnestuen Blå Streg
Key outcomes
- More design and material data collected in a single BIM model, rather than spread across separate tools and files.
- Faster, clearer comparison of design and material options - input and output side by side.
- Carbon analysis runs alongside daily design work, reading directly from the BIM model.
- Sustainability advice that begins before the first line is drawn, when design choices carry the most weight.
- A more grounded client conversation about material choices and their climate impact, backed by real data.