Last edited 03 Mar 2021

Asset

PAS 1192-3 Specification for information management for the operational phase of construction projects using building information modelling, is concerned with the operational phase of built assets, specifying how an asset information model should be created used and maintained through the life an asset.

It defines an asset as an ‘…item, thing or entity that has potential or actual value to an organisation’

And suggests that an asset ‘…may be fixed, mobile or movable. It may be an individual item of plant, a system of connected equipment, a space within a structure, a piece of land, or an entire piece of infrastructure or an entire building or portfolio of assets.’

It suggests that, in this context, ‘value’ can be tangible, intangible, financial or non-financial and can vary throughout the life of the asset.

This is narrower than the description of the term ‘asset’ in PAS 55-1:2008 Asset Management Part 1: Specification for the optimised management of physical assets (now withdrawn) which identified five types of asset:

Human assets.
Information assets.
Intangible assets.
Financial assets.
Physical assets.

It proposed that physical assets include ‘…plant, machinery, property, vehicles and other items that have a distinct value to the organisation,’ including ‘….any software code that is critical to the delivery function of the asset.’

The February 2015 draft of PAS 1192-5:2015, ‘Specification for security-minded building information modelling, digital built environments and smart asset management’, defines a 'built asset' as a:

‘...building, multiple buildings (e.g. a site or campus) or built infrastructure (e.g. roads, railways, pipelines, dams, docks, etc.) that are the subject of a construction project or where the asset information is held in a digital format.’

According to NRM3: Order of cost estimating and cost planning for building maintenance works, the term ‘asset’ refers to:

'...the whole building, element, system, sub-element and/or a specific asset, or component or part thereof. Note – asset classifications can be at portfolio/estate level (e.g. offices or schools) down to specific maintainable assets (e.g. boilers). NRM 3 applies to all levels of building or constructed assets that are ‘applicable’ to maintenance and life cycle major repairs and replacement work.'

The Loss Prevention Standard (LSP 2082 : Issue 1.0), published by BRE Global in 2017, defines an asset as: ‘An item, thing or entity that has potential or actual value to an organisation. The value may be derived financially or due to the asset being critical to the organisation’s mission.’