Beyond compliance: Unlocking value from traceability in building and construction

The construction industry is at a critical turning point. New regulations designed to improve building safety, sustainability, and accountability will demand significantly improved materials traceability from design through to deconstruction. While regulation is driving this change, it is the additional potential benefits to the industry that are compelling. 

Digital product passports will ensure building and construction products and components are identifiable from design, production, construction, and maintenance, right through to deconstruction and recycling. This “golden thread” of information offers the industry far more than regulatory compliance: end-to-end traceability provides the foundation for improved operational efficiency, significant waste reduction, enhanced cost control, and a new level of supply chain collaboration. 

Escalating construction compliance 

New EU regulations, including the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) and Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), as well as the UK Construction Reform Act, are set to place new demands on manufacturers and suppliers of construction products. While current compliance dates are still to be confirmed, the direction of travel is clear: manufacturers will need to provide structured, digital product information that can be accessed and shared consistently throughout a building’s lifecycle.

In the UK, the need for improved traceability is already understood. The ‘golden thread’ of data refers to a digital record of a building’s crucial safety and design information. While currently only legally mandated for higher-risk buildings (HRBs), there is growing awareness across building companies of the value of a single source of truth across projects of all sizes.

To date, the limitation to achieving this golden thread has been a lack of standardization and a single, agreed-upon operating framework. The result has been siloed operations that have constrained effective, end-to-end supply chain collaboration, which is required to improve operational effectiveness and maximize the value of deep product data. The shift towards a more regulated environment will, however, accelerate change and encourage the widespread adoption of standards required to achieve a more consistent and transparent construction process.

Data standards support construction compliance

As seen in other industries, most notably the pharmaceutical industry, standardization and the adoption of a globally recognized, accessible language, such as that provided by 2D codes powered by GS1, is the foundation for effective data sharing and traceability. It enables the seamless transfer of consistent, trusted, and usable information from one end of the supply chain to the other, allowing organizations at every stage to leverage real-time information to improve efficiency and control.

The depth of information that can be included within a digital product passport is compelling. While demands vary dependent upon product type, essentially the regulations will require the provision of a globally unique product identifier; a digital data carrier (e.g. QR, NFC, RFID); product performance and safety information; compliance and certification documentation; environmental performance data; and material composition.

Leveraging a standardized language to provide this deep data supports far more effective information flow between systems and people, from the factory through to the building site. It will allow construction organizations to create a digital record, or ‘twin’ of a building, with evidence of what products were used and where. This digital twin can also be used to demonstrate that the building meets the required standards, with the addition of unique identifiers that allow products to be tracked to the batch level for mass-produced items and to the individual level for higher-risk items such as fire doors

Extracting value from data beyond compliance 

Regulatory compliance should just be the beginning of significant operational change and additional benefits over and above remaining compliant. Improved product information can support greater automation and real-time process management that can significantly improve day-to-day operational performance. For construction companies, product deliveries can be scanned as they arrive on site, removing the inaccuracies and delays associated with manual paperwork. 

Real-time scanning of items as they are installed can help to ensure the correct parts are used across a building project. Additional information can include products that need to be paired to ensure correct installation, further improving quality and avoiding the risk of expensive delays or inspection failures. Indeed, site inspectors with detailed insight in advance into the specific high-risk areas that require assessment can achieve more focused and faster inspections and sign-off.

Replacing manual paperwork with real-time information from product identifiers can also allow construction companies to move away from the ‘just in case’ stock ordering that has been traditionally adopted to avoid delays. In addition to cutting costs, avoiding over-ordering materials will minimize waste, further supporting construction companies’ sustainability goals. Identifiable surplus materials can be returned or reused rather than disposed of, further reducing waste and cost.

Leveraging data to improve operational performance

Detailed item-level information can also enable construction companies to improve stock rotation. For perishable items, such as plaster, controls can be implemented to avoid products going out of date and being wasted – adding both cost and, potentially, the need for complex disposal processes. Critically, it also reinforces safety protocols for products such as cement which can be hazardous to workers and undermine building integrity.

For building product manufacturers, utilizing global standards such as GS1 Digital Link enables more data to be tracked and linked to products, supporting targeted recall, if required. Faulty batches can be identified and located rapidly, ensuring that only affected products are recalled and minimizing potential business costs. Furthermore, complete traceability will also avoid the problems associated with identifying buildings affected by problems, as occurred after the Grenfell building fire in London.

This depth of data, when accessed via a product identifier, can also support far more effective anti-counterfeit activity, enabling construction sites to verify genuine materials and confidently use authentic, safe products and, through the use of resolvers, enables different stakeholders to access different data sets or web pages at different point in the value chain. 

Leveraging compliance to achieve competitive advantage

The addition of detailed, unique identifiers will allow organizations throughout the building and construction industry to ensure compliance with new and upcoming regulations. But more importantly, it will also change how organizations interact and collaborate across the supply chain. The additional depth of information that can be provided on products at both the batch and individual levels offers materials manufacturers an opportunity to become embedded within the end-to-end supply chain, providing construction companies with a tangible commercial differentiator.

The provision of product information through adopting global standards, such as 2D codes powered by GS1, will become not only a compliance requirement but a commercial necessity. Today, there is a compelling opportunity to look beyond the perception that compliance is an overhead and recognize that building and construction manufacturers can deliver significant value throughout a connected and collaborative supply chain.