Executive summary

• 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: 5-11

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

FINAL REPORT

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction

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 sector is underdeveloped in terms of overall

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

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

information and real estate transaction data) is often scarce, of unreliable quality and limited

accessibility. 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 “Development of a European Union Framework for Digital Building

Logbooks” 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, Digital Building Logbooks contribute to several 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.

Definition of a digital building logbook

The following definition of Digital Building Logbook is proposed. It was elaborated based on

a thorough review of existing literature, consultation with 32 experts through semi-

structured interviews and 93 answers received through an online survey (see [1]). It was

also discussed at three online events on 13 May, 1st July and 17 November 2020, gathering

respectively 68, 66 and 94 participants.

A digital building logbook is a common repository for all relevant building data. It

facilitates transparency, trust, informed decision making and information sharing

within the construction sector, among building owners and occupants, financial

institutions and public authorities.

A digital building logbook is a dynamic tool that allows a variety of data, information

and documents to be recorded, accessed, enriched and organised under specific

categories. It rep resents a record of major events and changes over a building’s

lifecycle, such as change of ownership, tenure or use, maintenance, refurbishment and

other interventions. As such, it can 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. As a result, it also

enables circularity in the built environment.

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. 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. Data may be stored within the

logbook and/or hosted in a different location to which the logbook acts as a gateway.