Conclusions

• 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: 101-103

STUDY ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A EUROPEAN UNION FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL BUILDING LOGBOOKS

FINAL REPORT

101

CONCLUSIONS

Accelerated digitalisation of the construction sector

The digitalisation of our society comes with an ever-increasing amount of data, which allows

for new opportunities including new services and innovations. Particularly for th e

construction sector, a lot of progress has be en made in recent years – think BIM, digital

twins, prefabricated façade systems, robotics etc. – although a lot of potentials are still there

to seize.

In the digitalisation agenda of the construction sector, the digit al building logbo ok plays a

pivotal role. Digital building logbooks will serve as repositories for data on individual

buildings, and will facilitate information-sharing within the construction sector and between

building owners and tenants, financial institutions and public authorities. Access to and

processing of reliable data will foste r the roll-out of entirely new business opportunities for

design, construction, operation, leasing, financing and real estate transactions.

Role for the European Commission

The European Commission can foster the widespread use and efficient operation of the

digital building logbook by pursuing the following priority actions:

• Development of a standardised approach f or data collection, data management and

interoperability including its legal framework

• Development of guidelines for linking existing databases

• Launch of publicly funded R&I projects to further explore the digital building logbook

concept and its implementation.

These priority actions are concrete, feasible and with potential high impact on the end-users,

the construction sector and public authorities.

The implementation of EU initiatives such as a legal framework or official standardisation is

very time-consuming, and this must be taken into consideration when reflecting on the

necessary level at which to formalise and align technical specifications across Europe.

The promotion and recognition of the digital building logbook and (voluntary) technical

guidance are vital. Building awareness and collective support for the logbook across the

entire industry is paramount for the success of any initiative. The benefits will need to be

clearly articulated and potential concerns/liabilities clarified with each party. The consensus

is that the logbook would be a voluntary market-based tool. This needs to be kept in mind

for the legislative action.

The enshrining of the digital building logbook in an EU law is thus less essential than

implementing measures that enable the digital building logbook, i.e. measures focusing on

legal and technical aspects related to data exchange and improved data availability.

The inclusion of the digital building logbook in the Renovation Wav e provides an important

push to continue the development of logbooks and the exploration of policy avenues which

support their uptake (see Figure 30).

With the growing importance of cloud and edge computing and the need to align EU

Commission initiatives and strategies, a digital building logbook will be key “to integrate all

building-related data” and facilitate collaboration among DGs and Member States. The

forthcoming Strategy for a Sustainable B uilt Environment can serve as the momentum to

accelerate the regulatory uptake.