Prioritising Critical Barriers to Digital Twins Implementation for Sustainable Smart Facility Management in the Built Environment: A Global Study

Digital twins (DT) is a potent technology that could revolutionise the built environment towards sustainable smart facility management (FM). However, there are critical barriers that prior studies have not paid much attention to. Thus, this paper investigates the barriers to effective DT implementation for sustainable smart FM by exploring and prioritising them. This is achieved via a quantitative design comprising a literature review and a global expert survey. The design is further integrated with critical analysis and Pareto analysis. The study revealed an adequate level of agreement on the notion that DT if implemented effectively could achieve sustainable smart FM in the built environment. Further analysis revealed 30 critical barriers, of which 23 need to be prioritised, with the top four including “high cost of procuring hard digital technologies”, lack of technical know-how”, “lack of a systematic and comprehensive DT reference mode”, and “data safety and security”. Prioritising these critical barriers, professionals can become efficient decision-makers and policymakers in implementing DT for sustainable smart FM, realising the United Nations sustainable development goals 9, 11, 12, and 13. The study creates awareness of the critical barriers, generating an avenue for future researchers in the built environment to enhance the effective implementation of DT for sustainable smart FM. This could create a positive cost-benefit balance and unlock a future of operational excellence by carefully analysing DT’s unique needs and adopting a strategic measure to achieve sustainability in FM