The Building Safety Act: What is the Golden Thread?

The Golden Thread is a government initiative to create, and maintain, a detailed 'golden thread' of information for building projects. The Golden Thread allows anyone to understand the building, know how to keep it safe, have easy access to its information (for those who need it), and have data that is always up to date.

In the aftermath of the Grenfell fire, Dame Judith Hackitt led the independent review of the building regulations and fire safety. Her report, “Building a Safer Future” recommended the golden thread approach and the UK government is fully committed to implementing it by passing the Building Safety Bill.

How has it been implemented?

The bill allows the government to place a duty on those responsible for a building, to create and maintain the gold thread. This duty starts at the pre-construction phase, and continues throughout the entire build and handover. A designated 'Dutyholder' is responsible for the construction phase and handover to an 'Accountable Person' once complete. With so many people involved during the construction phase, making sure every piece of information is captured and checked can be complicated. The level of detail required varies based on the complexity of the project, but even relatively 'standard' construction projects can have hundreds—if not thousands—of data points that need to be captured.

One thing has been made clear, the golden thread needs to be digital. No more bundles of paperwork that can get lost and destroyed (not to mention the sheer effort of producing it, the environmental impact of paper waste, and having to store the accompanying documents), instead the documentation should be completely electronic to ensure it's easy to access and update.

Golden Thread Principles

1. Accurate and trusted: The golden thread must be accurate and trusted so relevant persons can use it to maintain and manage building safety and compliance with regulations. Information needs to be structured, accurate, and verified.
2. Residents feeling secure in their homes: Residents must have accurate and trusted information about their home. This helps to support residents in holding relevant people accountable for building safety.
3. Culture change: Supporting a culture change within the industry means increased competence and capability to implement different working practices. The golden thread should be considered an enabler for more collaborative working.
4. Single source of truth: All information should be brought together in one place,  including recording all changes throughout a project. Those responsible for a building should use common data environments to ensure controlled access to a single source of truth.
5. Secure: The golden thread must be secure. All personal information should be protected, and access controlled to maintain the security of the building or residents. GDPR compliance should be observed where it is required.
6. Accountable: Recording all changes, when they were made and who made them drives improved accountability. There is accountability at every level of building and maintaining a building, in order to maintain the golden thread to required standards.
7. Understandable/consistent: Information needs to be clear and understandable to support users in managing building safety and compliance with regulations. Standard methods and processes and using consistent terminology supports accountable people in achieving this.
8. Simple to access (accessible): Information should be easy to find by the right people at the right time; so storing information in a structured way is best. Implementing digital standards is the best way to make sure the golden threads meets these principles.
9. Longevity and shareability of information: The golden thread should be put together in a way that can be easily shared and maintained over the lifetime of a building. It should be reviewed to ensure that the data held is still relevant and useful.
10. Relevant/proportionate: Keeping a golden thread doesn’t mean everything needs to be kept - in information is no longer relevant to building safety it does not need to be included. reviewing processes at different times means information stays relevant and useful.  

What has Fonn been doing to support The Building Safety Act?

Fonn has been working with a number of clients already heavily impacted by the golden thread requirements. We can produce very granular reports that capture the audit history of almost any construction phase activity—from new build houses, right down to specs and photos of individual nuts and bolts. The mobile app we have produced allows all stakeholders in the project to upload images, documents, specs, and comments to every aspect of the build—in a fully digital, collaborative and auditable way. We already have clients using our system to compile data and produce reports ready to hand over to the next person in the chain.

“With Fonn we gather everything in order with a label on it, basically tied in a bow and ready to go to the client. Quick and easy.”

Nicola Robinson, Business Manager~Milestone

Keeping up with legislation requires commitment to developing a culture of building safety and digital literacy across build projects. If you are looking for some support in starting and maintaining your golden thread, contact Fonn today. We can discuss ways you can get started, as well as best practice approaches for all types of construction businesses.

We have put together a FREE Golden Thread Guide with all you need to know about the legislation and how it affects you.