In England and
Wales, building regulations apply to the design and construction of new
buildings, extensions and changes of use. Regulation 38 (BRE, 2019) is a
requirement to provide fire safety information to the responsible person at the
completion of a project, or where the building or extension is first occupied.
Regulations require as-built Fire Safety Information to be handed over by the
design and construction teams to the responsible person to maintain and operate
a building with reasonable safety. The responsible person is the owner,
occupier, or manager of the building. The information would typically include;
a fire safety strategy of the building that accurately reflects the fire safety
precautions; and design and construction information, services information; and
information about fixtures, fittings and equipment. Unfortunately, Regulation
38 has been far from successful and the required information is rarely
communicated to the dutyholders in a manner that meets the intention of the
authors. There is no requirement for the information to be presented to either
the Fire Service or the Building Control Body for assessment. The requirement
is merely for the person carrying out the work to confirm that the required
information has been passed over (CIC, 2017). The guiding philosophy of
legislation requires organisations to assess the potential risks associated
with their work activities and to introduce effective measures to control
risks. However, in reality the current regulations set the bar too low, with
the industry looking to satisfy the minimum standards by the cheapest means
possible, magnified by a lack of approval scrutiny.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 that
killed 72 people, the UK Government commissioned the Hackitt Review (2018) of
building regulations and fire safety. The Hackitt Review calls for radical
change in culture in the construction industry and the regulatory system that
assigns responsibility and holds people accountable. It also states that the
Government should mandate a digital standard of record-keeping for design,
construction and occupation of new Higher Risk Residential Buildings (HRRB) and
refurbishments within HRRBs. A BIM-driven dataset is suggested, which requires
duty-holders to generate a suitable evidence-base through which to deliver
their responsibilities and maintain safety and integrity throughout the
lifecycle of a building. This paper will examine the requirements set out in
the Hackitt review and explores the need for a digital record of lifecycle
building information. It examines examine the role of BIM as an enabler of the
digital building information record and presents a conceptual framework that
enables rapid realisation of the digital by default vision, via a Safe by
Default Asset Delivery framework. It outlines the potential outcomes of the
safe by default approach and discusses the potential opportunities and
challenges likely to be considered if the BIM enabled “digital by default"
vision was to be realised. <br
