Building Safety Alliance golden thread guidance

The Building Safety Act 2022 requires accountable persons to demonstrate the effective assessment and management of building safety risks through the collation and maintenance of information. The Building Safety Alliance published golden thread guidance documents on 8 May, 2025, these have been published in three parts- including a master list of documents and other information sources currently used by industry, which can be used to identify the key data which needs to be specified for the golden thread information requirements.

The guidance aims to help principal accountable persons (PAPs) meet the Building Safety Act 2022 requirements, focusing on managing the golden thread of safety information. The documents include a detailed list of prescribed documents, instructions on their use, and key regulatory requirements, to support stakeholders in collecting and validating safety data during design, construction, and for existing buildings. The list must be tailored per building and is expected to evolve. BSA invites collaboration to refine this resource, which is free to access, with updates planned to remain publicly available. For further information and download visit https://buildingsafetyalliance.org.uk/golden-thread-guidance

The work builds on the Construction Leadership Council's golden thread guidance released last year and has been undertaken over several years of voluntary effort by an expert panel. While this edition of the guidance is aiming to support technical people familiar with the legislation and its golden thread requirements, the publication signals a soft launch. Stakeholders are invited to join the collaboration to adapt this standardised approach to the wider range users and personas in the built environment that need to meet golden thread duties.

Anthony Taylor, Chair of the Building Safety Alliance, said: “I’m proud to be part of this cross-sector collaboration, which included experts from across the digital built environment , experts in information requirements, data structuring, management and labelling - our thanks in particular go to Mark Snelling and Alison Verdin, the technical authors of the prescribed documents table, nima, the BIM for social housing toolkit team, the policy teams at MHCLG and the Building Safety Regulator and the Chair of the group Gordon Mitchell who brought his experience in ISO/ and European Data standards to bare. The aim of the soft launch is to ensure that we can now adjust the standardised framework and guidance to various personas and audiences across the built environment so that we can continue to simplify the complex regulatory environment for those needing to navigate it.”

Gordon Mitchell, Chair of the Building Safety Alliance Special Interest Group 3, said: “Our aim was to integrate existing standards and industry frameworks - such as ISO19650, various safety standards and Uniclass, - to enable harmonisation and compatibility, streamline processes, and enhance information sharing across the built environment. But we’re not done yet, we’re seeking to deliver on a long-term vision of a fully integrated and digitally enabled built environment of the 2050 world and will continue to collaborate in the building safety space to that end.

This article is based on information issued via 'The Golden Thread' and 'Building Safety Alliance releases crucial guidance documents to elevate competence standards in residential occupied sector' press releases dated 27 May, 2025.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• Fire safety design.
• Flammable building materials.
• Golden Thread in
• Golden Thread report published by CIOB and i3PT.
• Golden thread factsheet.
• Golden thread guidance to be published by BSA.
• Golden Thread Report - BRAC.
• Gateways in building design and construction projects.
• Hackitt report on Grenfell Tower from the ACA.
• Procurement after Grenfell.
• Soft landings.
• The golden thread and BS 8644-1.
• University of East Anglia - case study.