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Scott Pilgrim, right, shows a janitor how the company’s groundbreaking new software can be used to easily find, share, update, and use a building’s data to maintain facilities and manage risk. Image: Shaun Flannery Photography.

An Innovative digital construction consultancy works with some of the country’s leading social housing associations, architects and developers on a government-led initiative to ensure the Grenfell Tower disaster never repeats itself.

Operance provides both hands-on expertise and software to the Golden Thread Initiative (GTI), an industry-professional collaboration set up to test government proposals for the Golden Thread.

The golden thread is a digital way of working that enables a systematic, controlled approach to managing building security information during the planning, construction, renovation and management of inhabited buildings.

It was one of the main recommendations of the Hackitt Report on the mistakes that resulted in 72 people losing their lives in the Grenfell tragedy.

The process creates an audit trail with information about a building, the decisions made about it and who made them. This increases accountability and ownership for decision-making in the design, construction, and occupation phases.

Sponsored by the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), the GTI’s purpose is to bring together professionals from the industry to work together for the good of the built environment and to test methods of producing a standardized digital golden thread for building security information that will support the built environment Meet the requirements of the future Building Security Act.

The GTI is working with the government and HSE as the future building security regulator to test different ways to meet information management requirements to prevent further tragedy and create a working prototype of the golden thread.

The eight-month initiative, led by housing company L & Q on behalf of MHCLG, was launched in November and is divided into specific working groups where industry experts from specific areas of expertise work together to explore different standards and create a working prototype of the golden To create thread.

GTI participants will produce a report for the government later this year, outlining the results of their work, sharing experiences and possible options for implementing a digital golden thread.

As a leading developer and consultant of software for digital real estate, Hull-based Operance was invited to the GTI and is represented in several working groups, with a special focus on information management technology, project management, information and process mapping and asset information collation.

The company develops its own pioneering software for defining, coordinating and checking operating and maintenance information (O&M).

Scott Pilgrim, Operance’s Chief Product Officer, is a member of the GTI’s Information Management Platform.

He said, “It is a privilege to have the opportunity to share our knowledge and expertise with the GTI to transform the construction industry, make buildings safer and protect lives.

“Our vision of creating a digital golden thread is fully aligned with that of the GTI. A disaster like Grenfell must never happen again, and it is imperative that industry leaders come together in this way to drive fundamental and lasting change.

“By having Operance participate in the project, we can not only provide our own insights into this forum, but also listen to and learn from everyone involved in order to understand what the industry needs.

“This will be a huge benefit in developing our platform and ensuring that it is truly revolutionary.”

Operance’s new information management platform, Operance O&M, is a purpose-built desktop application for defining, curating, reviewing and managing information about a building from design to occupation. The solution offers an immutable “quantum ledger” based on blockchain technology that creates a secure life cycle record of high-quality building security and system information.

Accurate and easy-to-understand building and facility information is shared with owners, operators and users through the breakthrough Operance FM mobile application, giving users real-time, real-time access to critical details through intelligent building and home user manuals.

With this building information in hand, users can easily find, share, update and use their data to operate and maintain their facilities while managing risk and continuously developing the golden thread.

Both the Operance O&M and Operance FM applications are currently in beta testing. A full version is planned for the summer.
Operance offers a limited number of social housing associations and other organizations the opportunity to test the software and customize features to suit their needs.

To help social housing associations prepare for the new legislation and start digitizing their portfolios, Operance also offers strategic digital transformation and Building Information Modeling (BIM) consulting services to help them define and articulate their digital real estate ambitions can.

By creating robust systems and processes and coordinating their digital building information, Operance offers its clients the best possible chance to generate a high quality golden thread and legacy of digital real estate to provide safer and more efficient homes.

Tom Oulton, one of the country’s leading BIM experts, is a member of the GTI Project Management working group.

He said, “We are facing a revolutionary change in the way we plan, build and manage our built environment.
“After Grenfell, we need to take this opportunity to work together to make sure it is never repeated. This is an opportunity to make changes that we cannot ignore. “

The Hackitt Review was published in May 2018 following an independent review of building codes and fire safety in Grenfell under the direction of Dame Judith Hackitt. It contained 50 recommendations for improving the design, construction and operation of buildings and facilities to make them safer and more efficient.

A public inquiry into the Grenfell disaster is ongoing. The first phase focused on the factual presentation of the events on the night of June 14, 2017. The second phase of the investigation examines the causes of these events, including the formation of Grenfell Tower in a state in which the fire could spread like it was.

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