Government Soft Landings: Bigger than BIM?

GSL will be the 'golden thread' between the design, construction and operation of an asset. So what do you need to know?

Taking a step back

Concerns for contractors

How much will it cost?

The BIM and GSL relationship

Promoting GSL adoption

Like building information modelling, Government Soft Landings will be mandatory for projects procured through central government departments from 2016.

Unlike BIM, the GSL initiative hasn't taken the construction industry by storm.

Yet it is likely to have an equal, if not bigger, impact on all of us involved in the design, construction and operation of assets.

Soft landings is a term well understood within the construction industry. It can be interpreted to represent a smooth transition from design and construction into operation.

However, GSL takes the meaning further, extending it to capture the principles of post-occupancy evaluation, so that required and actual performance outcomes are formally compared.

"GSL seeks to maintain clarity around asset purpose throughout design, construction and operation"

So, what does this really mean?

The headline is that the principles of GSL extend project team involvement (and obligations) far beyond the completion and handover of an asset - potentially by up to three years.

This could have implications on resourcing and contractual frameworks amongst other things for designers, contractors and everyone in the industry.

GSL needs to be on each member of the supply chain's radar.

Rob Manning, a member of the government's BIM Task Group, says: "Government Soft Landings is about adopting a mindset and a process to align design and construction with operational asset management and purpose.

"This alignment means that the needs of the end-user will be considered and addressed throughout the design process.

"Designers and contractors will be involved with the asset beyond its construction completion to ensure that handover becomes a smooth process, operators are trained and optimum performance outcomes become a focus of the whole team."Taking a step back

The government's industrial strategy, Construction 2025, seeks to make significant reductions in whole-life asset costs, design and construction durations, greenhouse gas emissions and the trade gap between construction-related exports and imports.

"The principles of GSL extend a team's involvement far beyond its completion and handover"

Although the industry is gradually embracing new technology and procurement...