BIM4HOUSING OPERATIONS WORKING GROUP MEETING 22-01-2026
One-Page Summary
Purpose of the Meeting
- Operations Working Group session focused on:
- Awaab’s Law / damp & mould response and best-practice process development
- Golden Thread / Building Safety Act (BSA) operational assurance and senior leadership engagement
- Practical AI + data engineering use cases to improve handover quality, validation, and auditability
Awaab’s Law – Main Issues and Risks
- Strong concern about rising claims activity (“ambulance chasers”) targeting tenants and landlords
- Risk of vulnerable tenants being misled and exposed to financial liabilities
- Need for a single defensible approach landlords can point to as “reasonable best practice”
- Landlord process reality highlighted:
- Most housing providers operate a two-stage complaints process
- Ombudsman escalation generally requires completion of internal complaint stages first
Damp & Mould – Technology and Root Cause Approach
- Discussion of “mould-killing” cleaning technology (used in food production supply chains)
- Ivan Young presented a proposed solution focused on:
- Eliminating root causes (not only treating symptoms)
- Continuous monitoring/adjustment of humidity conditions
- Suitability for energy poverty contexts (no extra heating/ventilation reliance)
Golden Thread – Operational Confidence and Board-Level Challenge
- Community feedback/polling referenced showing low confidence in:
- Regulation 38 information being complete/reliable
- O&M information accuracy
- Ongoing accuracy of the Fire & Emergency File
- Concern that senior directors may not fully understand BSA duties
- Direction of travel:
- Make Golden Thread a practical operating model (Plan → Create → Operate)
- Clarify what information is needed, why, who gathers it, and the cost/risk reduction benefits
- Emphasis: AI will only work if data foundations and standardisation are correct
AI + Data Engineering – Practical Use Cases Discussed
- Standardised method to audit large volumes of O&M content (e.g., thousands of files)
- Identify missing asset schedules and incomplete deliverables
- Produce dashboards/reports to quickly highlight gaps and reduce manual checking
- Common handover problems noted:
- Multiple suppliers providing inconsistent formats (e.g., door schedules)
- Mismatches between model references, schedules, and drawings
- Frequent reliance on PDFs and non-machine-readable information
360 Photography, Validation, and “As-Built” Reality Capture
- 360 photography positioned as a scalable “as-built” evidence layer that can:
- Support asset verification, condition assessment, and procurement clarity
- Improve fire safety navigation and retrospective strategy development
- Link together models, documents, O&Ms, product data, and compliance evidence
- Floorplan generation from scans remains challenging at scale
- Point cloud + modelling still seen as the reliable route for complex buildings
Connor’s Proposed Workflow Model (Awaab’s Law)
-
Two-track approach presented:
- Reactive: tenant raises issue → structured triage → detailed survey (360/LIDAR/thermography/IoT) → competent diagnosis → standard remediation pathways aligned to timescales → 12-month monitoring → lessons learned loop
- Proactive: use triggers (archetypes, condition sampling, fuel poverty indicators, Cat 1 trends, analytics, industry feedback) to identify and intervene earlier
Operational Pain Points Raised by Landlords
- Tenant decants may be required in severe cases
- Cat 1 hazards can impact Decent Homes reporting/compliance
- Data governance gap:
- Specialist teams sometimes use spreadsheets instead of the asset management system, reducing auditability
- Suggestion for stronger information governance (“clerk of information” role)
Outcomes / Next Actions
- Encourage members to join relevant workstreams (Awaab’s Law, benefits/business case, AI/O&M automation)
- Improve visibility of taskforces/working groups and share podcast links/resources
- Warranty reform noted as an agenda item but not explored in depth due to time