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Decarbonisation and fire safety are our industry's two great challenges. Could the efforts on both fronts be united with better data?

David Medcraft, TFT's Head of Project and Development Consultancy, highlights the siloed workstreams and lost opportunities faced by those addressing improvement works on buildings of all kinds. He proposes more accessible and complete building data models, to help a wider set of stakeholders report, analyse and manage building performance.

We can reduce risk, duplication and costs, and build more resilient assets for the future by linking our work more effectively.

Is there a decarbonisation and safety data gap?

Regulatory compliance and market expectations drive many building owners and occupiers to place safety and decarbonisation at the top of their priorities, with teams and resources dedicates to staying ahead of the upward curve

However, a chronic lack of building information threatens those efforts [...] data is either gathered piecemeal, damaged, or not fully understood by those who need it.

David Medcraft, Construction News 2023

Building a Golden Thread between decarbonisation and fire safety

The Building Safety Act requires owners and managers maintain accurate and up-to-date information including construction materials, layouts and maintenance history. Decarbonisation works also require this data, in addition to aspects like energy usage, renewables production and automation.

Building Information Management (BIM) systems present a powerful means of [...] breaking down siloes by allowing crucial information to be added, accessed and used by all who work in or visit a building. Making data input easier, and its output more useful, will be essential to achieve our goals for improving building safety and decarbonisation, and ease the ongoing work of improving buildings through their lifecycles.  

David Medcraft, Construction News 2023

Reducing risk and complexity with data

The goal is to facilitate data management, not to add volume of complexity at a time when our industry already faces significant challenges.

The industry can better orchestrate its decarbonisation and building safety works using data management. It's the only way to avert a vicious cycle of repeated works, uncertainty, expenditure and stranded-asset risks in the years to come.

David Medcraft, Construction News 2023

Read the full article on Construction News, here (£).