Open data - how can it aid the development of the construction industry?

1 Background
2 Introduction
3 The importance of collaboration between sectors
4 Potential to open up BRE data in the future
5 Conclusion
6 Acknowledgements
7 References
8 Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

[edit] Background

In 2014, the BRE Trust commissioned 'Open & Big Data in Construction', a study undertaken by BRE in collaboration with Generation for Change (G4C, part of Constructing Excellence). This project set out to discuss, and identify solutions to, the barriers currently slowing the use of open data and big data within the built environment. The study looked to demonstrate the potential benefits that collecting, managing, analysing and releasing data can have on a range of organisations within the construction sector.

One of the most prominent barriers identified during the study was that those who are relatively new to the area often feel overwhelmed by the technical language used. Subsequently, this report also looks to simplify wording and clearly explain some of the most important issues. The main objective from this study is to raise awareness of the benefits that data utilisation can offer, and simultaneously increase the level of data literacy along the supply chain. A combination of structured interviews, as well as debate events have been undertaken to stimulate widespread opinion, as well as to provide expert knowledge on this area.

This is the third and final article in the series.

[edit] Introduction

The government's Construction 2025 industrial strategy suggested that the UK planning process needs to be reformed, otherwise many investors will continue to choose other opportunities that face fewer the risks.

With the current planning process proving very time consuming, and with continuing planning authority budget cuts, planners are under a huge amount of pressure to assess applications within a reasonable time scale. It is important therefore that this process is simplified as much as possible.This study was intended to better understand how the planning process could be improved through the use of data, and so the risks seen by investors reduced.

Tom Brown, Geography and Property Information Manager at Lambeth Council, describes the planning process as quite opaque to those applying.

It was felt by Brown that it would be a great first step to put a standardised method of publishing information surrounding planning applications in place, as currently there are over 600 local authorities within the UK, with many taking different views. This is not only costly, but it also makes it extremely difficult for anyone to analyse. The standardisation of information at a local level is already taking place in other fields, it could be ideal if something similar were able to take place within planning.

During discussions, Brown also identified several areas where the collection and management of data could help applicants within the planning process. One which stood out was the potential to demonstrate consideration for the local community. Currently, a large number of the complaints made by local residents in relation to developments, are regarding issues related to noise and dust.

With this in mind, it would be sensible for contractors to record the amount of noise and dust that is being produced on all of their sites. This would allow developers to understand which sites, and site processes, were producing the most noise and dust and would enable them to put in place measures that could help to reduce this impact. Furthermore, if excessive noise and dust is a concern for the planning authority, a developer could use this data to illustrate how noise and dust levels appear on their sites. The more evidence a planner has in their possession the more automated their decision becomes.

It is examples like this which demonstrate the wide range of possibilities that data collection, management and analysis can have in the construction industry.

Professor Sir Nigel Shadbolt, Chairman and Co-Founder of the Open Data Institute (ODI), explains that geospatial data (data that contains a geographical location) will be vital in the way we plan and develop our future infrastructure. Utilising data from a range of sectors will enable us to pinpoint areas that require the most focus. For example, establishing where the schools are needed could be done by looking at population location and age data.

Shadbolt suggests that if organisations in all sectors throughout the UK were to start to publish open data there would be significant benefits. From a development perspective, it would allow us to quickly establish which land was available to develop on; what the transport links are like in that area; the ability of the construction workforce within close proximity to the development, and how the respective local authority's services can cope with any potential additional load. This could lead to large environmental and societal benefits, as well as increasing productivity, and helping to drive the UK economy.

[edit] The importance of collaboration between sectors

By having multiple datasets which span a range of different sectors, clients, designers and contractors are better able to understand the areas they are constructing in. There was a strong desire expressed during interviews with industry experts for there to be a push for the construction industry to collaborate much more with other sectors. This would help to develop a much stronger basis for evidence. The construction industry is in need of innovative and systemic approaches, based upon strong data, which allows people to make much more informed decisions.

One example which was discussed during an interview was how best to plan the movement of traffic around developments. When you consider traffic there are a wide range of variables which could have an impact, including, the schools in the area, and the times in which they open and close; the businesses within the local area, and their operational hours; even the employment rate in the area might dictate when people are most likely to be driving.

If you consider that there could be multiple variables which need to be analysed in order to provide reliable solutions to potential issues surrounding traffic, it becomes apparent how daunting the task is to open up all of the datasets that can help to inform decisions made on all aspects of the built environment. However, Professor Tim Stonor explains that we must look at this optimistically, as the rewards will be substantial if we are successful. This could lead to incredible social and economic gains.

The construction industry does not currently have the knowledge to turn this data into usable applications. However, if advances are made with regards to the quality and quantity of data available, it may become common practice for organisations big and small to invest in data scientists. If this level of data became accessible, there is the potential for it to be utilised to help provide solutions for a range of design and planning issues, and may even lead to data scientists being integral members of the design team.

[edit] Potential to open up BRE data in the future

At BRE, we create and manage large-scale data covering a number of areas of the built environment, most notably in sustainability (through BREEAM assessments of stages and lifecycles in the creation, use, reuse and maintenance of buildings; and SMARTWaste www.smartwaste.co.uk – our online environmental reporting tool for construction projects) and through areas such as product certification, where BRE measure, test and certify various products in fire safety and security (such as LPCB).

BRE has already undertaken work on capturing this data for future re-use, through BREEAM projects, our flagship next-generation BREEAM tool. There is great potential to use this data outside the original intended scope, and for opening portions of this data to the industry. There is also potential for re-use of this data in improving BRE processes and internal science.

For example, in BREEAM there has been interest in using certification and registration data in the housing sector to help identify trends and potential upcoming development areas. For building owners, being able to download or have access to the sustainability history of their building has the potential to showcase and provide value-added information for that property.

For BRE itself, being able to examine in detail across a number of BREEAM assessments for various building types could potentially show where assessment criteria could be more accurately tailored to specific building types or is not well suited. For example, we can begin to ask questions such as “do schools perform on average better in some categories than others”, “do assessments of hospital or public buildings tend to focus on specific credits in schemes rather than others, and if so, why?”

The use of this data by third parties also has potential, and BRE has already created an alpha API release, BRE Data, allowing specific organisations to query and manage assessment data without using our main tools through opening of our datasets.

[edit] Conclusion

It is clear that many people in the construction sector are unfamiliar with aspects relating to open and big data, often put off by the technical language used. Whilst this report tries to clarify and simplify some of the key terms, there is clearly more that could be done to demystify an increasingly important driver for change.

It is the great potential for open & big data to underpin a better built environment that should motivate all those in a position to develop new tools and applications to seek to optimise this growing resource. This includes configuring systems to provide new forms of data in a readily accessible form, as well as evaluating existing data sources to develop new applications that can support their continued collation and upgrading.

The public sector has led the way to opening up data sets to enable new and improved applications using such data to be developed, resulting in uses that could never have been envisaged by the originators of the dataset. There is still more that can be done with public data sets and this should be facilitated by grant funding in related research & development, along with events supporting disruptive technology and approaches.

The private sector has been less forthcoming in opening up their data, due to commercial sensitivities, anonymising data and resources needed to set up licensing frameworks and agreements.

For the true power of big and open data to be realised, these barriers need to be properly understood and removed where practicable. Such opening up of datasets can create economic, social and environmental benefits for the supplier and the user. Examples of data utilisation provided in this report will hopefully give a flavour of some of the practical applications that have already been developed and the benefits that are now possible.

Just as there are many possible applications for data, there are also multiple business models to allow the access of data without compromising the commercial value to the holder of the data. If done correctly, it can be a win-win situation, such as making suppliers aware of end-use applications they had not considered themselves or creating strong partnerships.

Ideally, the leaps of faith shown by the vanguard organisations will encourage greater collaboration and consideration of big and open data. In the meantime, BRE will continue to explore the potential to make better use of the data it holds and welcome discussions with other organisations who could be part of this process.

This article was authored by --BRE Buzz

See the original article here.