Hundreds of incorrect asbestos records found at housing association

Sadly, it’s not uncommon to hear of poor information management leading to this and similar disasters. I have worked in the field of infrastructure and built environment asset management for nearly 40 years, and data has also been the Achilles heel of asset-intensive organisations. 40 years ago, paper-based system may have been swapped out with a good spreadsheet, and that was progress, but that was a long time ago! We’re now on BIM4, which may be too much for some, but BIM as a basic approach would have averted this issue. I hope the ‘lessons learnt review’ includes a serious look at adopting good asset management and as a part of that, good information management, such as BIM – and to embed that, a learning programme for all those in the organisation. I recently worked with a Yorkshire-based Housing Association who have now developed and implemented a Strategic Asset Management Plan, and an asset management learning programme which has started with the top layer of management across the organisation. That’s the way to go!

Andy Watts February 20, 2025 at 16:08