Building Safety Act, heralds in generational reform

Dr Bola Abisogun OBE

On 28 April 2022, following my 32-month sabbatical at the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Digital Built Britain ‘CDBB’, the Building Safety Bill received Royal Assent, marking the introduction of the Building Safety Act and a pivotal paradigm shift for UK construction. A year later, I established the Digital Twin Skills Academy (DTSA) as a ‘not-for-profit’ EdTech company, and by the following April, significant reforms were introduced, marking the end of the transitional period.

Fundamentally, the new regulatory regime gives residents and homeowners more rights, powers, and protections, whilst simultaneously imposing an obligation on the industry to ‘do better’. At the DTSA, we are committed to embracing the ‘spirit of the Act’ and ensuring that the UK construction sector, with approximately three million individual contributors, adheres to a ‘digitally enabled’, chronological, evidence-based process of continuous improvement. This same process must be capable of withstanding ‘third party’ scrutiny, including any ask of the newly created Building Safety Regulator.

At the DTSA, we advocate for a ‘digital first’ information management approach, as standard practice across the industry. Notwithstanding, the primary barrier to achieving any meaningful and sustainable success is predominantly cultural, but the lack of skilled personnel has presented itself as an opportunity, one that we are willing to support the CITB to deliver upon. Given that better regulatory compliance is more of a ‘people (not process) challenge’, we are empathetic to our key stakeholder groups, reflecting our ‘people-centric’ values in our mission as we maintain competitive advantage.

I am humbled to say that we have some of the best minds and people drawn from within and across the sector, working with us to achieve our ambitions of a competent, ethnically diverse, and truly representative ‘digital’ construction industry. As an England Nation Council Member, I am convinced that the CITB are equally desirous of a similar and sustainable model of success.

A digital twin is often misunderstood as merely a binary technology, but it is so much more. It is a ‘data-driven’ virtual representation of a system, asset, or process, providing insights without requiring prior knowledge of that system, asset or process. Whether it's an IoT sensor on a bus updating a timetable screen or a complex 5D model of a building or whole city, along with its integrated systems, digital twins offer invaluable information and insight, often in real time.

The ‘golden thread’ is crucial to the Building Safety Act, offering ‘mission critical’ access to a chronological digital record of essential building information from the design phase, into construction and potentially, throughout the building’s lifecycle. The UK government mandates that this information must be stored “in a digital format”, even if this information may exist and reside across multiple systems. The golden thread comprises details of the design, specification, detailed construction work, including any changes or deviations from the ‘original’ design brief, and all the future maintenance requirements, ensuring that any modifications or enhancements are fully documented and accurately recorded. This proactive approach enables building owners – investors and insurers – to identify and address potential risks and/or identified hazards, as the building moves through various iterations, capturing material changes, during its whole life cycle.

During the complex construction phase, the digital twin, acts as a detailed, chronological record of the process, capable of providing multiple layers of value to the third party. For example, the legality and traceability of products, as captured by the golden thread, seeks to demonstrate that the correct processes and materials were used, as specified. Post-Grenfell, traceability, accountability and competence are of paramount importance and failure to evidence this could lead to significant fines and, potentially, a custodial sentence if deemed appropriate, in the presence of a serious ‘reportable’ incident. Whether you are an installer, designer, contractor, or property owner, ‘the latter’ as the Accountable Person; you must provide evidence of your due diligence. As a professional, competence is now King, and the ability to demonstrate your competence to the Building Safety Regulator, no matter where you sit in the vertical supply chain, will command that your contribution to the golden thread, is in fact present, robust and factually correct.

The ongoing Grenfell Tower inquiry underscores the necessity of structured, accessible and interoperable information. In fact, in my ‘use-case’ had a digital twin been created during the ‘pre-construction’ phase of the Grenfell project, all relevant information would have been recorded in a chronological ‘digital-first’ format. And, if the same information had been stored on a Blockchain, we potentially would have obviated the need for an inquiry, which some seven years later, remains a cost to the UK taxpayer. Digital twins, amongst other things, streamline the documentation process and accurately monitor ‘project or asset level risk’; this technology led solution, allows the Accountable Person to easily demonstrate the accountability.

With the transition period for the Building Safety Act coming to an end, my question “is the construction industry ready to implement the Golden Thread?” still stands. Simply put, it’s a no. Even after seven years, the industry still lacks the “knowledge, skills, experiences and behaviours” for the necessary change to scale. It’s a challenge that we must actively tackle, as a collective, by supporting trade bodies like the CITB. The challenge extends beyond technological capability alone, with an even bigger requirement to influence the ‘emotional intelligence’ of those who must implement and maintain it. With such a low barrier to enter, the construction sector has always been slow to adopt ‘new’ practices, and many are wary of the traceability inherent in and provided by digital twin solutions. This perpetual and systemic resistance leaves the industry ill-prepared to meet the upcoming legal mandate, which began in April this year.

Everyone involved within construction, be they leadership in senior management roles all the way down to the men and women delivering on site, are intrinsically responsible for raising (and mitigating) any concerns about a development’s safety regime. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry has revealed and demonstrated that when things go wrong, everyone involved – from, the project owners, to product manufacturers, onto the installers – all, remain culpable. Therefore, it is in everyone’s interest to ensure appropriate levels of competence and to question – where necessary – any work that they are asked to perform. This includes understanding product suitability and maintaining adequate records with visible proof to demonstrate acceptable standards of installation and workmanship, by competent professionals.

Not every employer, SME or micro-organisation needs sophisticated digital twin software to improve their processes. Existing enterprise or ‘affordable’ cloud-based solutions can support the documentation of suppliers’ product information and works carried out. Any related processes can be digitally created and maintained, purely as a foundational layer for accountability. Upholding and delivering the golden thread simply allows us, within the UK construction industry, to become world leaders and showcase the UK’s skills and commitment to innovation, quality and safety.

In summary, the most important action that anyone can take is to simply ask questions, and then check and validate your answers. This, along with critical thinking, will become the most essential skill that we will be nurturing at the DTSA. Whether you are a willing and able young person or a more mature, even senior, experienced industry professional; everyone must become an effective ‘information manager’. Accountability across the industry will only be achieved through questioning ‘the process’ and understanding the associated regulatory landscape, whilst ensuring that the requisite qualifications of the individual are achieved and levels of competence, sufficiently maintained. Life-long-learning and CPD has a real role to play as we enter this new dawn of evidence-based competence.

By fostering conversations and raising awareness, we can, and will, drive industry-wide change. All of us involved in the construction process must understand the implications of our workflow, our contribution and aim to collectively strive for the highest standards, whilst ensuring a safer future for everyone. The ‘choice’ to do the right thing has been completely extinguished by the very presence of the Building Safety Act; and since April, we all should be set up to own our new ‘legal’ obligation.