Designing, delivering and managing safe buildings through Better Information Management (BIM)

In April 2022, the Building Safety Act transformed major parts of the UK construction industry into a Regulated Industry. This means that designers and contractors must create and maintain a Digital Record of what products have been selected, how they should perform, how they were installed and commissioned, if they were “value engineered”, what was the replacement. Once completed, the information asset teams need to onwardly manage the building in a safe and effective manner, must be delivered.

Although this is all common sense and when the Government made BIM mandatory, the principle goal was to deliver reliable and easily managed asset information – not cool 3D modelling. 

This was defined in two, now almost forgotten, requirements - Government Soft Landings (GSL) and BIM Level 2. They formed the start of the journey but methods of procurement derailed it and very few projects – even those held up as exemplars – actually delivered what was required – Better Asset Information (BAM?).

Ten years on, GSL seems now to have been replaced by “the Golden Thread” which seeks to achieve the same outcome. However, there is a difference. Statutory compliance – and therefore the risk of financial, even criminal penalties. 

This should be the game-changer. If required information is not provided in the Digital Record, it should be considered as a “Defect”. In some ways, creating the right information is as important as doing the work. If the space naming in a schedule of accommodation is (even slightly) different than the reference code on a floor plan, that can be a major defect, because links to any information that relates to those spaces such as performance requirements, installed equipment and safety risks – will be broken.

This session will explain the building blocks we have been putting in place to make it easier for designers to deliver into the Golden Thread.

This FREE online talk will count towards the annual CPD hours under the RIBA "Design, Construction & Technology" topic.