Conceptual definition of the digital building logbooks

• Author: Carbonar, Giulia; Sterling, Raymond; Spirinckx, Carolin; Vandevelde, Birgit; De Groote, Maarten; Dourlens-Quaranta, Sophie; Lodigiani, Alessandro; Volt, Jonathan; Borragán, Guillermo; Glicker, Jessica; Kondratenko, Irena; Toth, Zsolt; Rajagopalan, Neethi; De Regel, Sofie; Rapf, Oliver; Calderoni, Marco; Loureiro, Tatiana
• Pages: 28-35

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CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION OF THE DIGITAL

BUILDING LOGBOOKS

Introduction to Task 1

Objectives

Data concerns almost every aspect of the built environment: from how individuals and

businesses use and interact with properties, to how a building's energy consumption and

construction details are recorded and analysed to support informed decisions about

construction and real estate processes. Data is used for benchmarking and progress tracking

of performance improvements and energy use, business planning, internal and external

reporting, risk assessment and financial underwriting. The availability of consistent and

reliable data can contribute to better design, construction and management of buildings,

improved market information and transparency, creation of innovative services and business

models, as well as more effective policymaking.

Studies suggest that the construction sector2 is underdeveloped in terms of overall

digitalisation and data applications in comparison with other industry sectors.3 Building-

related data (such as physical building characteristics data, environmental performance

information and real estate transaction data) continues to be scarce, of unreliable quality

and limited accessibility.4 The lack of a common data repository amount to additional costs

and inefficiencies, stifle innovation, increase risk and undermine investor confidence.

The study on the “EU-wide Framework for a Digital Building Logbook” aims to support the

widespread use of Digital Building Logbooks across Europe. It also encourages data

transparency and increased data availability to a broad range of market players, including

property owners, tenants, investors, financial institutions and public administrations. In

addition, the DBL will contribute to the strategy “A Europe fit for the digital age” as well as

in the “European Green Deal’’ and its Renovation Wave, the new Circular Economy Action

Plan, and the dedicated Strategy for a Sustainable Built Environment.

Several European countries have developed and implemented logbook-type initiatives over

the last years, including, for example, the Woningpas in Flanders (BE), the private initiative

BASTA in Sweden and the PTNB in France. All these initiatives share a common objective to

increase data availability and transparency to a broad range of market players. The existing

DBLs differ however in terms of focus (e.g. on energy efficiency or materials), data handling

and digital solutions employed. A common European approach covering the entire lifecycle

and comprising all relevant building information could increase learnings and enable

synergies, interoperability, data consistency and information exchange.

Approach implemented

Task 1 has delivered the first deliverable of this one year-long project. It aims to present a

definition of a Digital Building Logbook, building on a state-of-play analysis and stakeholder

input from across Europe. The report outlines the potential role and scope of an EU-

supported Digital Building Logbook, including the central features of the instrument, as well

as data handling and governance issues. The report builds on a thorough review of existing

2 For the purpose of this report, construction sector includes the following sectors of the NACE Rev.2 Statistical

classification of economic activities in the European Community: Construction (Section F), Real Estate

Activities (Section L), Architectural and Engineering Activities (Section M, Division 71)

3 McKinsey (2016) Digital Europe: Pushing the Frontier, Capturing the Benefits, European Commission (2019)

Supporting digitalisation of the construction sector and SMEs & BPIE and i24c (2016) Driving

Transformational Change in the Construction Value Chain

4 Hartenberger et al. (2019) The Building Passport as an enabler for market transformation and circular economy

within the built environment: SBE19 Conference Series paper and RICS (2017) Global Trends in Data

Capture and Management in Real Estate and Construction