Fire safety legislation : A multi-billion-pound opportunity to improve our industry
Abstract
This paper details the billions of pounds involved in complying with the building safety legislation that is passing through the parliamentary process. This legislation is designed to deliver a radically new building safety system for the future. While examining what will be required from the legislation, we discuss the future opportunities that a radically new system brings. We focus on the Building Safety Bill that will bring the 53 recommendations from Dame Judith Hackitt’s report ‘Building a Safer Future’1 into law. We consider how the ‘golden thread’ way of working, as outlined in Dame Hackitt’s report, will be central to complying with the new legislation and how BIM using the ISO standards is the framework for the golden thread. We make the case that there are opportunities to use this new way of working, which is being developed for building safety, to simultaneously achieve operational excellence by significantly improving how we understand and manage buildings, so we are in control of design, build and operate phases. We further set out how being in control of buildings’ information can improve the quality of new builds, reduce maintenance and operations costs, and ultimately lead to whole life cycle building cost reductions, as well as delivering a better service for residents.
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Author's Biography
Fiona Fletcher-Smith is responsible for the delivery of 100,000 quality new homes, while improving the customer journey for people renting or buying L&Q homes. She also has responsibility for strategic asset and regeneration teams, including homeownership. L&Q is a regulated charitable housing association and one of the UK’s most successful independent social businesses. The L&Q Group houses around 250,000 people in more than 110,000 homes, primarily across London and the South East. Prior to joining L&Q, Fiona was the executive director for development, enterprise and environment at the Greater London Authority (GLA). As part of the senior management team for the GLA, she was responsible for overseeing the delivery and implementation of key strategies such as the London Plan, the Economic Development Strategy, transport, environment and climate change and in overseeing the operation of the Mayor’s powers in relation to significant planning applications in the capital.
Johnny Furlong is responsible for leading the building information modelling (BIM) strategy in L&Q, the aim of which is to achieve operational excellence by significantly improving how we understand and manage our buildings, so we are in control of design, build and operate phases. Johnny has 15 years’ previous experience implementing BIM and digital strategies at organisational level and delivering BIM on large-scale projects ranging in value from £20m to £1.5bn, including leading BIM for Mace on the £1.5bn Battersea Power Station Phase 2 project and being Balfour Beatty’s first digital lead for London..
Citation
Fletcher-Smith, Fiona and Furlong, Johnny (2021, December 1). Fire safety legislation : A multi-billion-pound opportunity to improve our industry. In the Journal of Building Survey, Appraisal & Valuation, Volume 9, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/NBIW4413.
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