The Grenfell Tower fire tragedy undoubtedly highlighted the need for enhanced residential safety across the nation, along with ensuring correct data records for buildings are kept and maintained.
In her Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, author Dame Judith Hackitt recommends approaching residential buildings as a single entity or a “system encompassing sub-systems.” The document also suggests that a holistic “approved document” should describe the system in detail, as well as outline the way it operates, how it was designed and built, and what security layers are in place.
Following the ‘Hackitt Report’s’ presentation to the government, Parliament said they would adopt Hackitt’s recommendations in full, leading to the Building Safety Bill being published. This Building Safety Bill became an act in 2022, calling for the implementation of the golden thread of information — a lifeline for residential building safety. This blog looks at what Building Safety Regulators and the Accountable Person should know about compliance with the new Building Safety Act.
One of the findings of the Hackitt Report noted paperwork and documentation related to residential buildings have been sparse and scattered across a range of institutions, offices and records. For example, construction companies might keep a copy of the final design of a building, but this isn’t always retrievable.
With so many parties involved and multiple hurdles to overcome when tracing essential documentation, risk management had become unnecessarily complicated. When an accident happened, it was challenging to pinpoint responsibility for the building’s fire safety and collate all the necessary information.
Also highlighted by Dame Judith Hackitt was that all high-risk, complex construction projects — including high-rise residential buildings — should have a ‘golden thread’ of information in place.
Some of the principles of the golden thread include:
The golden thread should always be immediately accessible by authorised people such as the Accountable Person.
The main goal of the golden thread model is to raise the standards of residential safety through accountability and accessibility of complete, reliable and up-to-date information. But this framework also aims to boost the feeling of security among the building’s residents and promote a shift in culture towards safety. One of Dame Judith Hackitt’s suggestions to achieve a culture where residents “are safe and feel safe” in their homes.
What’s more, this framework will allow for the information collected throughout each stage of a building’s lifespan to be retrievable and shareable at all times.
Implementation of the golden thread refers to the information collected and the information management process to make this information accessible, accurate and trustworthy. This comprehensive system would also encapsulate all the details needed to keep the building safe, including the contact details of the Accountable Person and the steps that have been taken over time to improve safety.
The golden thread framework applies to all complex or high-rise buildings in scope, both new and occupied, and is likely to leverage digital planning tools such as the Building Information Modelling (BIM) system.
From the implementation of the new 2022 Building Safety Act onwards, the golden thread system will be applied from the very early stages of a building, collecting information about its design, original plans and contractors who collaborated on the project.
The framework will then develop through subsequent gateways:
Some of the fire safety improvements of implementing the golden thread are:
It’s estimated that a newly built home should last at least 60 years. However, this longer lifespan can make it hard for building managers and residents to know how their building was built and what safety standards it meets.
Gathering information from the build stage of new buildings, collating the golden thread of information will assist in ensuring this building information is readily available.
While the Accountable Person and Building Safety Regulator play an essential role in determining the level of safety of a specific building, the way the building’s residents engage and interact can be just as impactful.
The new Building Safety Act specifies that each high-rise building should have a Resident Engagement Strategy in place to ensure residents actively keep the building safe, report fires promptly and follow safety best practices.
Information relating to complex real-estate projects — including construction companies involved in various projects, safety managers, residents, refurbishment projects and materials — can be difficult to retrieve if planning documents such as floor plans and blueprints can only be found in hard copy.
Because of this, in the event of a fire, it becomes tough to pinpoint who’s responsible for the lack of safety in a building. The golden thread aims to resolve this issue by becoming a one-stop source for all data regarding a building. In particular, the information is to be accessible, up to date and easy to interpret.
When partnering with Ventro, our building maintenance dashboard offers the perfect overview of the most critical metrics you need at a glance, making it the perfect system to collate all the data for your building in one place. Some of the benefits include:
Implementing the principle of the ‘golden thread’ of information will streamline the accessibility and quality of information for buildings across the country.. But introducing it into your buildings can be complex, with data in multiple formats and often stored in different places and systems. Now that the Building Safety Bill has become an Act, we want to equip you with all the information you need to get prepared for the law.
To help you, we've created a Building Safety Act checklist with all of the critical factors you need to consider. Get your free copy today using the button below.