A North East-based construction safety and risk management company is partnering with Northumbria University to develop a new digital approach to managing asbestos.
Lucion Services is partnering with the university to develop an innovative new app to directly connect building plans and drawings with data from asbestos surveys and laboratory analysis information.
The NexGen app forms part of a new approach to Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems and is being undertaken as part of an Innovate UK knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) project.
As part of the KTP with Northumbria University, Lucion Services is hosting one of the unversity’s specialist developers to work on the project, which will provide a new and technically advanced way of completing safety and risk management assessments in buildings.
Lucion’s Patrick Morton (l) and Alexei Holgate with the app
The software will present a 3D image of a building, including floor-by-floor and room-by-room representations allowing users and surveyors to flag up the presence of asbestos or other safety hazards more accurately and efficiently.
The app design aims to reduce human error, eliminating the risk of mistakes made with traditional paper-based plans and subsequent problems associated with the inspection of buildings.
Lucion’s current NexGen BIM database already allows users to access asbestos and building safety information, including site survey reports and historical data. Linking this to the 3D visualisation of sites, buildings and individual rooms will bring new levels of detail for more accurate risk management considerations.
Patrick Morton, CEO of Lucion Services, explained: “Because of the potential risks associated with exposure to asbestos-containing materials during refurbishment or building works, it is essential that clear information is provided to everyone involved in the supply chain or with access to a building.
“The NexGen app is designed to meet this need. In doing so it will help to set new standards in the development of effective risk and safety management assessments in the construction sector.”
