KNOW HOW / EXPLAINER
BUILDING SA FE TY
Finding the golden thread The UK’s building safety bill requires a ‘golden thread’ of information - with major implications for facilities managers, says Paul McDevitt
Maintaining the thread The UK Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities &
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Local Government has said the golden thread must: 1. Be accurate and trusted; 2. Make residents feel secure due to its accuracy and trustworthiness; 3. Support culture change and enable collaborative working; 4. Provide a single point of truth by collating all information; 5. Protect personal information and maintain building security; 6. Record any changes, who made them and when to improve accountability; 7. Be easily understood and simple to access; 8. Be easily handed over and maintained; and 9. Relevant and proportionate.
building in scope and satisfies the new building safety regulations.
Challenges for FM ● Checking and reporting on the competence of those designing, constructing, repairing and operating buildings; ● Costs related to aggregating golden thread information, particularly for organisations responsible for multiple tower blocks; and ● Legacy IT systems may create gaps in essential data and cause delays as information must be digitised, which may require the use of drones and digital scanning to create 3D scans of existing buildings – all of which requires specific expertise.
The golden thread will create safer outcomes compared with Potential solutions traditional H&S policies because A building asset portal can be it covers the full life cycle used to gather, consolidate, of the building and requires store, manage and provide an integrated approach. It 24/7 availability of data with ensures that those controlled access. responsible for Efficient data and higher-risk residential asset management buildings inspect the will identify competence levels of information gaps the people working on to make informed their buildings. decisions. PAUL In addition to Data management MCDEVITTm organisations’ software and data is managing legal compliance management director at TÜV commitments, the techniques – SÜD Building Advisory golden thread goes including fully Service, a data further by demanding integrated BIM management an annual building models and digital and analytics safety case for each twins – can create business
easily navigable and secure dashboards for relevant stakeholders for real-time review. It may not be necessary to seek out new proprietary software either, depending on the quality of existing systems and processes. However, legacy systems may not accurately collate golden thread information. And more systems could mean more gaps in data. Documents and information should be stored and kept according to statutory guidance (yet to be issued). This will give building control authorities or other prescribed persons power to request documents and information be shared with them and others. The building safety bill’s new requirements must be complied with in a tight timescale over the next two years and failure to do so could lead to significant financial penalties and or imprisonment. However, in the long term, improving accountability for those involved in a building’s entire life cycle will raise the bar for safety, quality and sustainability, ultimately reducing risk for building owners, managers and occupiers.
PHOTOGRAPHY: ISTOCK
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he UK’s building safety bill, expected to be enacted in 2023, will ensure accountability for everyone involved in the life cycle of high-rise residential buildings over six storeys or 18 metres. It requires a ‘golden thread’ of information to detail how a building was designed, built and maintained throughout its lifetime, recording decisions and creating a trail of accountability to support building safety. These regulatory changes are likely to have financial and practical consequences for the residential facilities management sector. For example, when residents move into a building it will need to be registered with the building safety regulator and an application made for a building assurance certificate. A designated ‘accountable person’ must conduct and maintain a risk assessment for the building, and a building safety manager will oversee this day to day. Building inspectors who sign buildings off as safe will have to follow the new rules and register with the regulator. Duty holders with statutory responsibilities will be accountable for managing all risks across the building’s life cycle.
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