Blog: The Golden Thread

17 November 2024

The Golden Thread

In the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017, the construction industry’s perspective on safety and compliance underwent a significant transformation to prevent similar disasters from happening again. Dame Judith Hackitt’s report (2018)^[1] into the industry, highlighted the urgent need for a revamped regulatory framework for building management and safety. This, in part, led to the establishment of the Building Safety Act^[2].

Granted royal assent in 2022, a substantial portion of the Building Safety Act emphasises enhancing the processing, storage, and sharing of information within the construction sector. This concept, known as the ‘Golden Thread of Information’, has compelled many construction companies to review and improve their operational practices. Moreover, Hackitt’s review proposed three gateways within the design, installation, and hand-over process – all of which are underpinned by the ‘Golden Thread’.

Decoding the Golden Thread

The golden thread was announced in Dame Judith Hackitt’s report ‘Building a safer future’ and can be summed up as the right people, having the right information at the right time. It should be maintained throughout a building’s entire lifecycle, detailing any construction works and how it meets applicable building regulations. It has also been created to identify, understand, manage, and mitigate safety risks before they appear.

Having a golden thread of information means that the relevant people will be able to access accurate and up to date information with ease. It must be started before any building work commences and kept updated throughout the design and construction process. Once the building work is completed, the golden thread is then handed over to the principle accountable person or the accountable person for a high-rise residential building. During the design and construction phase this can include the Principal Designer or Principal Contractor, but once the build has been completed, the information about the building can also be requested by residents or owners of residential units in the building.

The recently published Grenfell Tower Inquiry - Part 2 (2024)^[3]  made a series of recommendations to improve the industry, several of these reinforced the need for a robust Golden Thread of information. For example, the report stated: “It is essential that those responsible for designing buildings have access to reliable information about the materials and products they wish to use.” ^[4]  

To be able to get the right information to the right people, the Inquiry proposed a significant shift in approach by recommending ‘that the government draw together under a single regulator all the functions relating to the construction industry to which we have referred’. One of the items which was being referred to was “maintaining a publicly available library of test data and publications” ^[5]. The Inquiry is therefore proposing that a new Construction Regulator would ensure that a publicly available database can be accessed by all that need it which would contain all relevant digital technical information relating to the products and systems that they need.

Summary

It remains to be seen how many of the recommendations made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry are implemented. With the industry in need of up-to-date, accurate, clearly presented, and accessible data to comply with Gateway 1 and Gateway 2, the idea of a centralised database for system data and information could – if implemented well – add significant value to the industry. Given these recommendations are 7-years post the Grenfell Tower disaster, 6-years post Dame Judith Hackitt’s report and 2-years post Building Safety Act, it would appear that though the Golden Thread is relatively well understood, there needs to be more action taken to deliver on its purpose.

References

^[1] Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: final report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

^[2] Building Safety Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)

^[3] Homepage | Grenfell Tower Inquiry

^[4] GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY: PHASE 2 REPORT OVERVIEW, REPORT of the PUBLIC INQUIRY into the FIRE at GRENFELL TOWER on 14 JUNE 2017, 113 Recommendations, 113.19, p35 (2024)

^[5] GRENFELL TOWER INQUIRY: PHASE 2 REPORT OVERVIEW, REPORT of the PUBLIC INQUIRY into the FIRE at GRENFELL TOWER on 14 JUNE 2017, 113 Recommendations, 113.5, p32 (2024)

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