In order to deliver safer future buildings, the mandatory ‘Golden Thread of Information’ on ‘higher risk buildings’ (HRBs) will need standardised data in order to be practically deliverable. This was one of the findings of a recent industry round table sponsored by K Systems and Winkhaus which took place last week at the Institute of Directors in London.

The round table looked at how the golden thread approach legally required on all HRBs could benefit maintenance of social housing long term, but didn’t shy away from the challenges for making it work in practice for housing providers including Registered Social Landlords.

The delegates tackled issues around competency of professionals involved, and the Regulator itself, and of how the construction sector should provide the necessary data. Many delegates called for a level of standardisation, but also endorsed approaches such as CCPI (Code for Construction Products Information) and BIM for increasing the efficiency of information management in complex projects which is inherent to the Golden Thread approach. 

Some delegates such as Paul McSorley of CIBSE drew attention to the issues around a lack of comprehensive product data being provided to design teams. Alex Lubbock, Operations Director at Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust said that “standardisation of language” was essential. At the same time, according to Hywel Davies of the Chartered Institution of Building Engineers, the sector “needed systems thinking,” and an approach in procurement where “the first question you ask is what are you doing on the Building Safety Act?”

Chris Lees of Data Clan, who was instrumental in developing the Golden Thread approach, said that many issues were being caused by the construction sector remaining in ‘information silos’ – which was leading to much unnecessary duplication: “80% of the info we need is the same, but it ends up silo’d, which makes it difficult to share.” He said that due to this issue, there was a perception that the Golden Thread “was too expensive, but they will make savings.”

Delegates also warned about the need to properly engage social housing tenants in ongoing maintenance, and about the issues around trust which were persisting in the sector post-Grenfell, which were not helped by a persistent lack of collaboration in social housing and construction teams. Hony Premlal, consultant and mentor in the social housing sector, said that “one of the biggest challenges is data not being shared – accountability means changing the culture first; systems are not interlinked, and teams are not speaking to each other, including within teams!”

Kevin Mangan, technical director from sponsor K Systems asked whether with a “supply bottleneck” likely to be caused by pressure on the Regulator to assess projects, a two-stage approval approach could be feasible to allow works to start on site. However, most delegates pushed back against such an idea, giving reasons such as possible negative consequences for design, and McSorley adding that “what’s being sent to the regulator isn’t everything.” The Building Safety Alliance’s Anthony Taylor admitted that the Regulator was “underresourced.”

The other sponsor of the event Winkhaus posed a question around non-compliant fire doors and whether there will be clear information including to residents on these, in the new spirit of transparency ushered in by the Golden Thread. 

The round table’s chair, James Parker, editor of Housing Management and Maintenance magazine, commented on the importance of the round table event for social housing maintenance professionals: “This event highlighted many of the remaining challenges around introducing a genuine ‘Golden Thread of Information’ on projects which is workable for social housing teams. The Ministry of Housing as well as the Building Safety Regulator would do well to pay attention to the outcomes of the round table which will be reported soon in Housing Management and Maintenance and online at our netMAGinsights site.”

The full list of delegates for the Building Insights LIVE round table was:

Matt Baird (chair) Co-Chair of Spring Housing Association and Director of Baird & Co Recruitment

Alex Lubbock Operations Director at HACT (Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust)

Ben Wallbank BIM Strategist at Trimble Viewpoint

Stewart Kerr Senior Consultant at Pennington Choices

Stephen Hamil Innovation Director at NBS

Chris Lees Chief Executive of Data Clan

Paul McSoley Vice Chair of Fire at CIBSE

Anthony Taylor Chair of the Building Safety Alliance

Hony Premlal                            Chair of Women in Social Housing (WISH)

Hywel Davies Head of Technical Insight at CABE (Chartered Association of Building Engineers)

Sponsors:

K Systems Kevin Mangan, Technical Director
Winkhaus (no attendee)

A Building Insights podcast capturing some of the key sections of the debate, will be available at: insights.netmagmedia.co.uk