Those were the key statements made by Arman Sharma, co-author of both the golden thread and the CLC’s guidance, during a Digital Construction Summit webinar devoted to the golden thread.
Noting the size of the document (90 pages) and the future plans, he said: “The reason it’s comprehensive is that it’s not a document that we are encouraging people to pick up, put down and forget about. We want this to be a reference piece. I hope users of this guidance will be constantly referring to it.
“We plan to continue to iterate the guidance based on the feedback we get from users. There is information in the document about how you can send your feedback.
“Candidly, if I can be as blunt as to suggest that I don’t really want anyone picking up this document who is not prepared to understand it in the great depth and detail that it needs, because I’m convinced that its proper application will deliver safe buildings.”
The next stage of the guidance will go into more depth about the processes that organisations can use to discharge their duties under the Building Safety Act (BSA), and Sharma hopes it will include contextualised case studies.
Maintaining the momentum
Acknowledging that further legislation should be expected when the government responds to the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report, Sharma reminded the audience “we don’t get to drop down to fourth gear [until the next raft of legislation] – we should stay on course, pushing forward”.
Asked if the golden thread requirement will be extended to buildings beyond the current 18m height, higher-risk definition, he answered: “There are mechanisms in the BSA to upscale this regime to other parts of the built environment.” He confirmed, without specifying a timetable, that this will happen.
He explained the 18m height definition was a result of ensuring the industry could meet the new legislation at pace. The current definition has created a list of 13,500 higher-risk buildings: if the definition is lowered to 11m, that number swells to 80,000.
“When the definition does expand, the guidance will be developed further to reflect that,” Sharma said.
Learning from doing
Neil Yeomans, head of property safety and technology at housing association Orbit, revealed some of his lessons from implementing the golden thread. With 25 buildings classified as HRBs, Orbit partnered with Parametrix, the scan-to-BIM specialist, to help create the data, information and models necessary to comply.
Yeomans’ opening statement may be deemed slightly shocking by some. “We decided this wasn’t an IT project. This wasn’t a data project. This was an operational project that was leaning heavily on data and IT. We’ve taken this from a different lens than is usually applied and I think that’s paid dividends for us. If you put your operational team in charge of implementing the golden thread, rather than the data or IT team, you’ll end up with a better project.”
With Parametrix, Orbit “drilled, droned, scanned and sampled literally everything we could get our hands on. The scans were 10mm accuracy. We then produced 3D models to navigate the data.”
Too much information?
The sheer volume of data was something of a shock, Yeomans revealed. “When we did [the scan to BIM] on one of our buildings, we had more data points than for all the other buildings [combined] on our existing asset management system. That gives you a feel for the depth and breadth of data that we feel is necessary for the golden thread. We feel that the more information we have, the less risk there is of something unexpected.
“When we had a look at all the data we collected that we felt was necessary, our current asset management system could only hold about 12% of it.”
He noted: “The collection of the data is the easy part for our experience. The difficult part is keeping it up to date.”
Ultimately, the reports came back that the buildings were safe and structurally sound. “The amount of reassurance we were able to give our executive team, our board and, most importantly, our customers – being able to show the lengths we had gone to – was worth its weight in gold,” Yeomans said.
Project information management systems
Roby Hoyle, AEC consultant at webinar sponsor Atvero highlighted how project information management (PIM) systems can help organisations comply with the golden thread.
“First, centralised digital records. A PIM system ensures that all project information, from initial design to building operation, is centrally stored and also easily accessible, meaning firms can maintain comprehensive records, which are crucial for compliance with the golden thread,” said Hoyle.
“Second, real-time updates and traceability. Changes made during the design and construction stages can be logged immediately, and that ensures that all stakeholders have access to the most up-to-date information. The BSA emphasises the need for accurate traceable records during design and construction phases, and a project information management system makes it easier to meet these requirements by providing version control and ensuring that modifications to safety-critical aspects are recorded.
“Third, data retrieval and analysis. With a PIM, stakeholders can quickly retrieve the necessary information, including fire safety assessments and materials used in inspection records. This aligns with the BSA’s requirement for the data to be accessible for building safety assessments at any stage of the building lifecycle,” he noted.
“Fourth, integration with BIM. Many PIM systems like Atvero integrate seamlessly with BIM, which is key for maintaining the golden thread. BIM enables detailed digital models of a building that evolved during its design and construction, and this aligns with the BSA’s focus on capturing the safety-critical details in a digital inspectable form.”
Hoyle concluded: “Fifth, compliance reporting. PIM systems can automate reporting processes and show that those reports required by the Building Safety Regulator, like fire statements, materials compliance are readily available for audit purposes. Thus, by using a robust PIM, firms can significantly streamline the process of maintaining the golden thread, enabling ongoing compliance for the BSA.”
Register to watch the webinar on demand.
The webinar was part of the Digital Construction Summit, organised by BIMplus and Construction Management, in association with the Chartered Institute of Building, Atvero, Ideagen Mail Manager and Trimble.
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