Property Logbooks

[edit] Introduction

The term 'Digital Property Logbook' has become popular amongst buildings and property professionals, with many different interpretations being offered for what they might be and which industry sectors might benefit from their use.

Although the industry has now settled on 'Digital Property Logbook' or 'Digital Building Logbook', all the terms listed below have been used previously to refer to some form of digitally hosted building record that includes live, updated links to open sources, static data held in digital form, documentation and imagery:

• Building Passport
• Building Logbook
• Digital Building Logbook
• Digital Property Logbook
• Digital Twin
• Renovation Passport
• Building Passport
• Building Renovation Passport

[edit] The Definition of a Digital Property Logbook

A Digital Property Logbook is a common repository for all relevant building data. A well maintained logbook should represent a record of major events during a building’s lifetime, such as change of ownership, tenure or use, maintenance, refurbishment and other interventions in the fabric of the building. The logbook should contain copies of significant documentation and certification relating to these events and include links to where information is held on those events on public and/or government repositories.

Documentation could include administrative documents, plans, description of the land, the building and its surrounding, technical systems, traceability and characteristics of construction materials, performance data such as operational energy use, indoor environmental quality, smart building potential and lifecycle emissions, as well as links to building ratings and certificates.

[edit] The Role or Purpose of A Property Logbook

A property logbook should be a dynamic tool that allows a variety of data, information and documents to be recorded, accessed, enriched and organised under specific categories. As such, a property logbook can serve a variety of purposes within a building's lifetime. These may include:

• Ensuring a property owner has oversight of all information on their property held in public or commercial databases
• Facilitating transparency, trust, informed decision making and information sharing.
• Enabling quicker, more transparent transactions and change of ownership, linking financial institutions to land registries and certification bodies.
• Connecting building owners with commercial service providers and public authorities for more efficient running and maintenance of a property.
• Providing a platform to co-ordinate and record retrofit programmes against targets and frameworks such as the net zero/energy neutral obligations of the Paris Accord.
• Allowing public bodies to monitor the health and development status of the buildings within their areas of interest.
• Enabling circularity in the built environment from design through to demolition.

Data may be stored within the logbook and/or hosted in a different location to which the logbook acts as a gateway. Some types of data stored in the logbook have a more static nature while others, such as data coming from smart meters and intelligent devices, are dynamic and need to be automatically and regularly updated.

The broad emphasis of all these functions is that a Logbook is a digital 'companion' to the physical asset. A digital building logbook is a safe instrument giving control to users of their data and the access of third parties, respecting the fundamental right to protection of personal data.

[edit] Property Logbooks Used to Facilitate Building Regulations

In the UK, Part L of the The Building Regulations 2010 - Conservation of Fuel and Power, sets forth regulations R40,R40A in Section 9 for ‘Providing Information’ to owners on new dwellings or for work to an existing dwelling. Although not all property logbooks are used to facilitate this regulatory requirement, they provide the ideal container to house the information for the new build and renovation sectors.

The regulation states that the operating and maintenance instructions should be given to the owners of the dwelling for any fixed building services and on-site electricity generation installed as part of the work. The instructions should contain sufficient information to help the occupiers achieve the expected level of energy efficiency and to verify that any fixed building services and on-site electricity generation comply with the energy performance requirements of the Building Regulations.

For new dwellings, the operating and maintenance instructions should include a Home User Guide (aka Handover Guide). The Home User Guide should contain non-technical advice on how to operate and maintain the dwelling in a healthy and energy efficient manner.

Historically, the required information has been presented in paper format or pdf’s on a USB stick. However, advances in technology mean that cloud native digital equivalents are being used that allows the data to be accessed from anywhere on any device.

[edit] Work on Property Logbooks Around The World

In the UK, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) have established a Property Logbook Workgroup within their wider efforts to digitise the residential property market. This workgroup has led to the establishment of a Trade Association for UK providers of digital property logbooks - the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA).

Several European countries have developed and implemented digital property logbook initiatives, including, for example, the Woningpas in Flanders (BE), the private initiative BASTA in Sweden and the Clea in France. In some countries (like France and Belgium) logbooks are now mandatory for certain types of building or after certain types of building work.

All these initiatives share a common objective: to increase data availability and transparency to a broad range of market players. The initiatives are intended to establish whether property logbooks can contribute to EU initiatives and strategies, such as “A Europe fit for the digital age”, the “European Green Deal’’ and its Renovation Wave, the new Circular Economy Action Plan, and the dedicated Strategy for a Sustainable Built Environment.

[edit] Property Logbook Initiatives Around The World

United Kingdom

• Chimni
• GBuilder
• National Deeds Depository
• Novoville
• Shedyt
• Spaciable
• Twindig
• Virtual Viewing

• CIBSE TM31 - Building log book toolkit
• NHBC - home user guide

European Union (EU)

• Dossier d'Intervention Ultérieure – Belgium
• Woningpas – Belgium
• Bedrebolig – Denmark
• CLÉA - France
• Homebook - France
• Le Carnet Numérique du Logement - France
• Wikihabitat - France
• Passeport Efficacité Énergétique - France
• Digital Building Logbook - Finland
• Real estate service manual – Finland
• Ilmastoviisaat Taloyhtiöt – Finland
• Building Passport GBC – Finland
• Capsa - Germany
• Eigenheim Manager - Germany
• Gëbaudepass - Germany
• Hausakte (the Building Certificate) - Germany
• ImmoPass - Germany
• QDF Hausakte - Germany
• Electronic building ID - Greece
• Fascicolo del Fabbricato - Italy
• Livro de Obra - Portugal
• Libro del Edificio - Spain
• PAS-E – Spain
• Boverket - Sweden
• Klimatdeklaration – Sweden
• Min Villa – Sweden
• Produktkollen – Sweden
• BASTA Loggbok – Sweden
• Madaster – The Netherlands
• Opleverdossier – The Netherlands
• Platform CB'23 – The Netherlands

Australia

• inndox – digital logbook for property.

Norway

• BolingMappa - Norway

Iceland

• Property Register

Switzerland

• Federal Register

USA

• Arc Platform
• HomeBinder - digital property logbooks
• HomeZada – digital property logbooks
• Global ABC Building Passport Project

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• BIM.
• Building log book.
• Building manual.
• Building owner's manual - O and M manual.
• Building Renovation Passports.
• Building user's guide.
• Digital twin.
• Health and safety file.
• Technical guide.

[edit] External references

• The MHCLG Property Logbook Workgroup - website
• The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) - www.rlba.org.uk
• The EU Digital Building Logbook (DBL) Project - Report
• News Report on the EU DBL Project - News coverage
• ChimniWiki - PropertyLogbooksArticle
• Twindig - Digital Property Logbook article