CIOB launches survey on Hackitt’s ‘golden thread’

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is running a survey to examine the construction industry’s understanding of Dame Judith Hackitt’s ‘golden thread’ – a key recommendation from her report published two years ago.

The ‘lack of complete, accurate and up-to-date building information’ was one of the issues identified by the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. Hackitt’s review highlighted the need for ‘robust record keeping, with a digital ‘golden thread’ of key building information running through all phases of design, construction and occupation’.

The government endorsed all recommendations in the review in its report, Building a Safer Future: An Implementation Plan and is currently drafting a new Building Safety Bill based on these recommendations, which is expected to become law in 2021.

The objectives of the CIOB survey, a collaboration with i3PT, are:

• Investigate the construction industry’s understanding of the golden thread; what it is, why it is needed and how it will be delivered in practice;
• Identify how prepared the industry is to meet the requirements set out in the government’s Implementation Plan;
• Provide recommendations on what the industry needs to do to meet these requirements and highlight examples of good practice from the industry.

The survey, along with a summary of the Building Safety Bill, can be accessed here. It is open until 21 August 2020.

The research is being led by a working group comprising:

• Paul Nash, past president of the CIOB and chair of the CIOB quality commission;
• Vicki Reynolds, head of digital at i3PT Certification and a member of the CIOB’s digital specialist interest group;
• David Philp, global BIM/MIC consultancy director at Aecom, head of the CIOB’s digital specialist interest group and chair of the CIOB policy team;
• Stefan Mordue, regional consultancy manager at Aecom and a member of the CIOB’s digital specialist interest group;
• David Barnes, CIOB policy and public affairs manager.