Most construction product manufacturers are still not set up to meet one of the key post-Grenfell safety recommendations, according to a survey.
Research for the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) found a widespread lack of understanding of the move towards digitised project documents among manufacturers.
In a report, the body warns that this hampers the aims of the ‘golden thread’ principle outlined by Dame Judith Hackitt in her review of building regulations and safety, conducted in the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze.
The golden thread requires that an up-to-date, accurate record of information on a building’s design, construction and occupation is kept, including digitised product information.
Dame Judith’s recommendations – including reforms to construction processes – were published in 2018.
Digitisation is set to form part of the requirements under the Building Safety Act 2023, although Whitehall guidance on the issue is still awaited.
The survey of 80 executives from product manufacturers found a major lack of understanding of what digitisation of construction product information was or why it was set to become essential to the industry’s efforts to improve building safety, as well as product tracing and sustainability, the CLC says in the report.
The majority of companies surveyed provide product information mostly via PDFs or hard copies.
Instead, the CLC says firms need to adopt a “holistic data strategy”, applied to all parts of their businesses.
Examples of digitised work practices it wants to see include:
- Product information on a firm’s website not updated manually but fed from company product information management through an API connection.
- Sample requests handled through connected CRM and product databases, rather than requests being emailed, printed out and actioned.
- Certificates downloaded from a verified website with change history, rather than a potentially out-of-date certificate emailed from a salesperson’s computer.
Richard Robinson, CLC deputy chair and Atkins Réalis president for UK and Ireland, urged product companies to consider how they could change their operations.
He said: “Eighty per cent of the 80 manufacturer leaders interviewed for this research understood the importance of digitisation. However, only a few placed ‘digital’ highly in their priorities, [and it was] well behind other pressing concerns.
“We also found that digital-transformation journeys are fragmented, and our investment into digital is sometimes misplaced due to a poor understanding of what is possible and what it means to digitalise.”
