New provisions of the 2022 Building Safety Act came into force on 1st April 2023, including a duty to keep the safety and standard of buildings under review, facilitating improvement in the competence of industry and building inspectors, and a duty to establish a system for the giving of building safety information.

What’s more, full implementation of the Act is due by October 2023. So, those responsible for the safety of high-rise buildings in England must register with the new Building Safety Regulator and have their building safety regime in place by this time, or face investigation and potential prosecution.

But what are the recommended methods to create an effective building safety regime in higher-risk environments such as high-rise? The ‘golden thread’ approach was outlined by Dame Judith Hackett in her report, ‘Building a safer future’.

The ‘golden thread’ is a tool to manage buildings as holistic systems, and allow people to use information to safely and effectively design, construct and operate their buildings. It is both the information that allows you to understand a building, and the steps needed to keep both the building and people safe, now and in the future.

Paul Thompson, BIM Manager at ASSA ABLOY Opening Solution, explains: “There has been some progress made in the built environment towards achieving positive changes in culture, and the introduction of the new Building Safety Act provisions and Building Safety Regulator registration should help to accelerate change at a faster rate.

“BIM has the ability to create greater transparency and produce this ‘golden thread’ of information, allowing building elements such as doorsets to be managed through a single platform - from specification to installation and ongoing inspection.

“BIM applications also help to lock in positive behaviours from the very start of a project and support an increase in trust and confidence that safety is paramount throughout a building’s specification, construction and maintenance.”

With this in mind, ASSA ABLOY’s Openings Studio BIM application integrates with design software to create and visualise openings for complete door, frame and hardware schedules and specifications.

This enables seamless extraction of door design intent and all relevant interfaces to assist fabricators to develop complete door requirements that meet building regulations.