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The purpose of this study is to investigate barriers to the adoption of digital technologies (DTs) in the circular economy (CE) transition in the construction industry. The aim is to quantitatively investigate what the barriers to DTs-driven CE are in the Nigerian construction industry.

A review of existing literature identified 32 barriers to DTs-led CE. A well-structured quantitative research questionnaire was developed and administered to construction experts using a convenient sampling technique via hand delivery and Google form. The gathered data were analysed using arrays of both descriptive and inferential statistical methods.

The study revealed that the awareness of the digitalisation of CE is high, but the adoption is low. Five themes of the leading 10 factors responsible for the low adoption of DTs in CE transition in the Nigerian construction industry are (1) finance and demand barrier, (2) data management and information vulnerability, (3) skills shortage and infrastructure challenge, (4) poor government and management support and (5) interoperability and resistance problems.

This study could be helpful to decision-makers and policy formulators, which would provide an avenue for higher adoption of DTs in CE transition in the construction industry, better performance and environmental protection. It also provides a foundation for further research efforts in Nigeria and other developing countries of Africa and beyond.

Studies on the barriers to DT adoption in CE transition are still growing, and this is even non-existent in the Nigerian construction context. This offers a unique insight and original findings by pioneering the identification and assessment of barriers to the digitalisation of CE transition in Nigeria’s construction industry.

Building Information modelling (BIM) has the potential to significantly minimise the quantity of construction waste (CW), but its adoption is low in construction waste management (CWM). This study examined the factors impeding the adoption of BIM in CWM efforts at the design and precontract stages from the perspective of construction stakeholders in Nigeria.

The study was informed by a post-positivism philosophical stance, which involved using the structured questionnaire as a quantitative research design tool for data collection via snowball sampling technique. The data garnered from construction experts were analysed using Cronbach’s alpha test, normalities test, Frequency, Percentage, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance and Chi-square tests, Analysis of variance (ANOVA), and exploratory factors analysis (EFA).

The study concluded that the awareness of BIM potential for CWM is high, but the adoption in waste management (WM) is low. The factor analysis reduced the twenty assessed factors into four key clusters of impediments to BIM adoption in CWM: (1) knowledge and resistance barriers, (2) support and interest barriers, (3) interoperability and experts' factors, and (4) economic barriers. These factors are critical impediments to BIM-enabled CWM at the design and precontract stage, and there was no significant statistical difference in their rating by the construction stakeholders in Nigeria.

Studies on the impediments to BIM adoption in CWM efforts, primarily at the design and pre-contract stages in emerging countries are scarce. This sought to fill this literature gap by establishing the critical impediments that should be overcome to improve BIM use in CWM.

The purpose of this study is to assess the potential benefits of digital technologies (DTs) in bolstering the circular economy (CE) transition in the construction industry, to speed up the attainment of sustainable development objectives.

A detailed literature review was undertaken to identify DTs that could influence CE transition and the benefits of these DTs in the CE transitioning efforts of the construction industry. Based on these, a survey questionnaire was formulated and administered to construction professionals using convenient sampling techniques. With a response rate of 49.42% and data reliability of over 0.800, the gathered data were analysed using frequency and percentage, mean item score, normalisation value, coefficient of variation, Kendall’s coefficient of concordance, analysis of variance and factor analysis.

This study found that the construction experts agreed that building information modelling, blockchain technology, RFID, drone technology and cloud computing are the leading DTs that have the potential to influence and speed up CE transition in construction. Also, six clusters of benefits of DTs in bolstering EC are quicken CE transition, proactive waste management, recycling and zero waste, data management and decision-making, enhance productivity and performance and resource optimisation.

Studies on the integration of DTs in CE transition are scarce and it is even lacking in the Nigerian context. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to assess the role of DTs in CE transitioning in the Nigerian construction industry.