Property Logbooks

1 Introduction
2 The Definition of a Digital Property Logbook
3 The Role or Purpose of A Property Logbook
4 Property Logbooks Used to Facilitate Building Regulations
5 Work on Property Logbooks Around The World
6 Property Logbook Initiatives Around The World
7 Related articles on Designing Buildings
8 External references

[edit] Introduction

The term 'Digital Property Logbook' has become popular amongst buildings and property professionals, with many different interpretations being offered for what they might be and which industry sectors might benefit from their use.

Although the industry has now settled on 'Digital Property Logbook' or 'Digital Building Logbook', all the terms listed below have been used previously to refer to some form of digitally hosted building record that includes live, updated links to open sources, static data held in digital form, documentation and imagery:

[edit] The Definition of a Digital Property Logbook

A Digital Property Logbook is a common repository for all relevant building data. A well maintained logbook should represent a record of major events during a building’s lifetime, such as change of ownership, tenure or use, maintenance, refurbishment and other interventions in the fabric of the building. The logbook should contain copies of significant documentation and certification relating to these events and include links to where information is held on those events on public and/or government repositories.

Documentation could include administrative documents, plans, description of the land, the building and its surrounding, technical systems, traceability and characteristics of construction materials, performance data such as operational energy use, indoor environmental quality, smart building potential and lifecycle emissions, as well as links to building ratings and certificates.

[edit] The Role or Purpose of A Property Logbook

A property logbook should be a dynamic tool that allows a variety of data, information and documents to be recorded, accessed, enriched and organised under specific categories. As such, a property logbook can serve a variety of purposes within a building's lifetime. These may include:

Ensuring a property owner has oversight of all information on their property held in public or commercial databases
Facilitating transparency, trust, informed decision making and information sharing.
Enabling information to be passed between interested parties as required by legislation (eg Golden Thread).
Enabling quicker, more transparent transactions and change of ownership, linking financial institutions to land registries and certification bodies.
Connecting building owners with commercial service providers and public authorities for more efficient running and maintenance of a property.
Providing a platform to co-ordinate and record retrofit programmes against targets and frameworks such as the net zero/energy neutral obligations of the Paris Accord.
Allowing public bodies to monitor the health and development status of the buildings within their areas of interest.
Enabling circularity in the built environment from design through to demolition.

Data may be stored within the logbook and/or hosted in a different location to which the logbook acts as a gateway. Some types of data stored in the logbook have a more static nature while others, such as data coming from smart meters and intelligent devices, are dynamic and need to be automatically and regularly updated.

The broad emphasis of all these functions is that a Logbook is a digital 'companion' to the physical asset. A digital building logbook is a safe instrument giving control to users of their data and the access of third parties, respecting the fundamental right to protection of personal data.

In the UK, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Govt (MHCLG) helped to establish a trade association for UK providers of digital property logbooks - the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) - to co-ordinate a standardised approach to each of these challenges.

[edit] Property Logbooks Used to Facilitate Building Regulations

In the UK, various bits of legislation mandate the transfer of information between parties involved in constructing and managing dwellings. Part L of the The Building Regulations 2010 - Conservation of Fuel and Power, sets forth regulations R40,R40A in Section 9 for ‘Providing Information’ to owners on new dwellings or for work to an existing dwelling. The Building Safety Act 2022 enshrined the Golden Thread principles defined by Dame Judith Hackett for Higher-Risk Buildings (HRBs) after the Grenfell Inquiry. Following handover, information stored using the Golden Thread principles should enable easy access to crucial details like design plans, building methods, legal documents, maintenance logs, safety evaluations and change history. Stored securely and digitally, the Golden Thread serves as the single source of truth for all stakeholders.

Historically, the required information has been presented in paper format or pdf’s on a USB stick. However, advances in technology mean that digital property logbooks can be used that allows the data to be accessed from anywhere on any device. The RLBA has worked to codify how these requirements can be delivered through digital property logbooks. Although not all property logbooks are used to facilitate all these regulatory requirements, they provide the ideal container to house the information for the new build and renovation sectors.

[edit] Work on Property Logbooks Around The World

The EU has undertaken a significant amount of research work into the potential for Logbooks to deliver Government policy across multiple industry sectors. The EU have also funded long-term research into the role of Logbooks like the DemoBLog Project - in supporting residential retrofit. As a result, Logbooks are specifically referred to in the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) as the natural container for a Building Renovation Passport with national Governments required to ensure that Logbooks have access to all public sector data and are referenced on the EPC.

Several European countries have developed and implemented digital property logbook initiatives, including, for example, the Woningpas in Flanders (BE), the private initiative BASTA in Sweden and the Clea in France. In some countries (like France and Belgium) logbooks are now mandatory for certain types of building or after certain types of building work.

All these initiatives share a common objective: to increase data availability and transparency to a broad range of market players. The initiatives are intended to establish whether property logbooks can contribute to EU initiatives and strategies, such as “A Europe fit for the digital age”, the “European Green Deal’’ and its Renovation Wave, the new Circular Economy Action Plan, and the dedicated Strategy for a Sustainable Built Environment.