Following the Golden Thread to Safety

It’s a tragedy in itself that it took the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire to shake the industry into a fundamental change of approach to designing and building high-risk residential buildings, to a more robust framework with accountability for all decisions at its core. The 2018 report commissioned by the Government, ‘Building a Safer Future’ by Dame Judith Hackitt, contains the building blocks of a new way forward in England, for buildings over 18 metres at least.

Part of Hackitt’s legacy, as enshrined in the Building Safety Act (BSA), is to restore and codify the accountability for all key design decisions to competent construction industry professionals – including requirements for a Principal Contractor, and Principal Designer on all such projects. The key task of the latter (which can be an individual, such as an architect, or a firm) is to act as a Duty Holder overseeing a ‘Golden Thread’ of safety-related information on the building project, from its initial stages through any design changes, the construction itself, and occupation; functioning as a log-book for the client over the long-term.

In March 2024 the third Building Insights LIVE round table was held in London, featuring a multi-disciplinary expert panel looking at the impact of the Building Safety Act, and the Golden Thread of project data, on architects, developers and product manufacturers.

The group of architects, IT experts, developers and consultants, had an in-depth discussion on the ramifications for the industry of the new regime, which is a fundamental shift from traditional, more fragmented project relationships. However, the round table also looked at the data management challenges of the Golden Thread, both for design teams and end users, and the need to bring robust decision-making to the front of the process.

James Parker, editor of ADF & event chair captures the key segments of the discussion, and the learnings for other professionals, including Recommendations for Industry, which professionals pursuing high-risk projects need to consider in an online report.

Click here to download the full report