Putting building user needs at the heart of digital decision-making

Construction Innovation Hub Digital Impact Director David Philp will today underscore the vital role that digital tools and processes play in enabling a smooth transition from building construction to operation, and also in helping clients to assure and assess a building’s performance.

In a keynote address to UK Construction Week 2020, David Philp will highlight the benefits that the Government Soft Landings approach is unlocking for NHS Scotland, as a prime example of the progress made in this space and how could learnings can be shared across the wider sector.

NHS Scotland and the Construction Innovation Hub have collaborated on an interactive GSL process map which provides a framework and reference for government departments and other public sector organisations to create their own specific plan which responds to their unique business requirements and procedures.

The navigator guides users through setting operational strategy, clear purpose and user needs defined within the brief to meet the required outcomes and ensuring these are delivered. It encourages collaborative stakeholder engagement, ensuring feedback and lessons learned informs the brief and design strategy.

Speaking in advance of the event, David Philp said:

“Government Soft Landings reminds us that we design and construct to improve the performance and outcomes of our public services to ensure they improve whole life value to users, owners and society at large. By setting and monitoring performance targets, we can ensure that facilities are productive and deliver value for money for the taxpayer.

“Health Facilities Scotland is helping embed GSL across the NHS Scotland boards and it is already being successfully utilised on several of their flagship projects providing common understanding and unlocking the benefits across the health system.”

Louise Sykes, Estates and Asset Management Advisor for Health Facilities Scotland said:

“NHS Scotland have, as part of their Digital Estate programme, been rolling out GSL and building information modelling (BIM) at a national level. The Soft Landings interactive navigator, co-developed with Construction Innovation Hub, is already realising impact on our flagship National Elective Centre Programme. Soft Landings Champions including Clinical Managers have said that the process is easy to understand and practical to implement.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• Join David Philp for a live discussion on ‘Convergence – How digital supports value, assurance and manufacture’ at UK Construction Week, Thursday 8 October at 3.30pm  https://www.ukconstructionweek.com/ukcw-virtual-seminar-agenda-2020
• The Construction Innovation Hub brings together world-class expertise from the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), BRE and the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) to transform the UK construction industry. Working around the four core themes of Value, Manufacturing, Assurance and Digital, we are changing the way buildings and infrastructure are designed, manufactured, integrated and connected within our built environment.www.constructioninnovationhub.org.uk
• The Government Soft Landings Revised guidance for the public sector is an evolution of the original, with the aim of aligning it with the UK BIM Framework (including ISO 19650 and BS 8536) and industry best practice. It provides further specific guidance around the ‘GSL Champion’s role’ to offer specific assistance to clients: https://ukbimframework.org/GSL_Report_PrintVersion.pdf
• The interactive GSL navigator can be downloaded here.

Find out more about the Construction Innovation Hub Digital theme »