Two co-authors of the golden thread have outlined what they would like to see in future iterations of the golden thread guidance, recently published by the Construction Leadership Council (CLC). In this first part, Johnny Furlong, building owners, account executive at Dalux, offers his feedback.
The CLC guidance should be essential reading for anyone working on higher-risk buildings (HRBs). If you take the time to read and understand the report, you will go a long way to understanding what your organisation’s responsibilities are for a golden thread. It is comprehensive in setting out your responsibilities and the legal basis behind this.
The guidance doesn’t give you a template. It also doesn’t answer every question you have. Nor will it give you a full list of the information necessary to manage your golden thread.
Many in our industry expected, and still want, an example or template of a golden thread, for both construction and occupied phases of HRBs. So, there is disappointment from those that I have spoken to about the guidance. I understand why the CLC and the authorities are unable to provide this. I would recommend and believe it would be helpful if the CLC, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and Health & Safety Executive came out and said that there are no plans at present to produce such an example or template.
The reality is you will need trusted advisers to partner with to build the requirements of your golden thread. From speaking with leading consultants in this field, a semi-standardised consensus for the high-level information requirements of the golden thread for the construction phase of HRBs is emerging. For occupied HRBs, there seems to be less consensus.
“There are a few areas I wish the guidance went into a bit more detail in listing specifics around what information should be managed in the golden thread.”
Wot, no 19650?
I know there is also disappointment that there is no mention of BIM, ISO 19650 or soft landings. For me though, this report can be seen as the start of the refresh of the information management mandate.
This guidance has more detail than any other about the golden thread. The authors have done a great job in adding to the previously published Building Regulations Advisory Committee report that I was involved with. Having been involved in writing guidance at a national level, I know first-hand what a hard job it is to get anything published, let alone detailed useful guidance.
There are a few areas where I wish the guidance went into a bit more detail in listing specifics around what information should be managed in the golden thread. As mentioned above, there is now an emerging consensus around the high-level information requirements and process for the design and construction phases. This would not give you a template, but would give readers a good starting point. This, I believe, would have been welcomed by many in our industry.
Fire cause and effect test
There is one specific piece of information I believe really should have been included in this guidance. And I believe it should be included in the legislation as it is of such importance. The guidance hints at it, but it does not spell it out clearly enough for me. The item missing concerns existing/occupied buildings: the fire cause and effect report, matrix and testing regime.
Way too often I have seen occupied HRBs being maintained, on a component-by-component basis, where no one maintaining them has a document outlining how each system should operate, or details on how to undertake a fire cause and effect test.
An example of this is combined motorised smoke and ventilation systems. I have witnessed where these systems have up-to-date test reports, saying they are operating correctly, yet during fire cause and effect testing, they have failed. This could be a potentially fatal flaw, yet will only be picked up with a full fire cause and effect test, which I believe should be a mandatory annual test.
In summary, the CLC golden thread guidance is excellent, but as with all things, there is always room for continuous improvement. I am looking forward to further guidance being published.
Furlong was BIM strategy lead at L&Q when he was involved in the drafting of the golden thread.
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