How can AI help with the Golden Thread?

The Building Safety Act 2022 represents the most significant overhaul of UK building

regulation in decades. At the heart of the Act is the concept of the Golden Thread; a

structured, digital record of a building’s safety-critical information, maintained throughout its

lifecycle.

The problem is that most building owners and operators still treat the Golden Thread like a

glorified filing system. That’s a mistake.

We’ve all seen it before: a fire risk assessment buried in a SharePoint folder, an out-of-date

test certificate emailed as a PDF, a handover pack that no one ever opens. This isn’t the

Golden Thread, it’s just digital clutter.

A 2021 study by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) found that more than 60% of

industry professionals struggle with poor information management, leading to wasted time,

safety risks, and compliance failures. As regulatory scrutiny increases, this is no longer

something building owners can afford to ignore.

AI-powered solutions are making a real difference. By automating file categorisation,

indexing documents intelligently, and enabling natural language search, AI can cut through

the noise and eliminate manual inefficiencies, making compliance an integrated part of

everyday operations.

The Role of AI

AI isn’t here to replace human oversight, but it’s here to do the heavy lifting. For building

owners, managers, and safety professionals, AI helps achieve a more structured and

accessible Golden Thread by tackling three fundamental problems:

1. Automated Document Categorisation and Indexing

The Golden Thread demands structured, easily retrievable information, but safety-critical

documents often arrive in a mess. PDFs, Word docs, spreadsheets, scanned images; they

all pile up in different formats, and no one has the time to organise them properly.

AI solves this by:

● Automatically recognising and categorising uploaded documents (e.g., fire risk

assessments, test certificates, maintenance logs).

● Applying metadata and tags so documents are instantly indexed and retrievable.

● Ensuring document consistency across a building’s lifecycle, even as ownership

changes.

Without AI-driven organisation, crucial documents remain hidden in various file repositories

and email inboxes, and safety teams waste valuable time searching for information instead

of acting on it.

2. AI-Powered Search

Even when documentation is well-organised, retrieving the right information at the right time

can be a major challenge. A fire safety audit, a regulatory inspection, or an emergency -

these are the moments when you need to find the right document in seconds, not

hours/days/weeks/never.

AI enables a natural language search function that allows users to:

● Ask questions like “When is the next fire risk assessment due for this building?” and

receive an instant, contextually relevant response.

● Surface critical insights with cited sources, reducing the risk of missing key

compliance details.

● Understand relationships between documents, ensuring safety professionals always

see the bigger picture.

Rather than spending hours digging through digital and physical folders, email conversations

or even whatsapp chats, AI can enable users to locate essential information in seconds

through an intuitive chat interface.

3. Maintaining a Permanent Digital Logbook for Buildings

One of the biggest risks in building safety is the loss of historical safety information,

especially during ownership or management transitions. How many critical documents get

lost when a property changes hands? Too many.

Surely all compliance-critical documents should be stored on a building-by-building basis,

forever - similar to a car logbook. The automotive sector has normalised service histories,

making cars without them worth less, yet it’s normal for properties to be exchanged with

minimal understanding.

Storing information on a building-by-building basis means:

● Each building has a permanent, structured digital history.

● Information stays with the asset, rather than being lost when contractors, owners, or

property managers change.

● AI ensures documents remain intelligently indexed and searchable, reducing the risk

of fragmented (and therefore useless) records.

For building owners and duty holders, this reduces legal risk, simplifies compliance audits,

and ensures that critical safety information is never lost.

AI as an Enabler, Not a Guarantee

Let’s be clear: AI doesn’t ensure compliance. It enables it. The Building Safety Act requires

that the Golden Thread is "accurate, up to date, and accessible." AI helps achieve these

requirements by:

● Reducing human error in document categorisation and storage.

● Making safety information instantly retrievable by those who need it.

● Providing the ability to thoroughly interrogate the audit trail of when documents were

uploaded, accessed, and modified.

However, compliance is not just about technology; it’s about governance, oversight, and

proactive management. AI is an essential tool, but it must be integrated into a wider culture

of compliance.

What Next?

If you don’t take the Golden Thread seriously now, you’re setting yourself up for compliance

failures later. Here’s what you can do today to get ahead:

● Audit your current Golden Thread process: Identify gaps in document organisation

and retrieval.

● Assess how AI-powered search and categorisation can help: Look at existing

inefficiencies in locating and structuring compliance data.

● Consider implementing a structured, AI-driven platform: Solutions like Building

Passport help ensure long-term compliance and eliminate the risks of fragmented

record-keeping.

Conclusion

The Building Safety Act has raised the bar for compliance, but most building owners are still

relying on outdated, manual systems that are not in line with the requirements of the Act.

That’s not sustainable. AI is transforming how building information is structured, stored, and

accessed.

The first step to take is to use a platform like Building Passport to automatically organise,

save and make searchable all your building files in whatever format they exist, giving you an

instant foundation for your digital Golden Thread. It’s as simple as a drag-and-drop of your

files.

In five years, the best-run buildings will have AI-driven Golden Threads. The rest will be

drowning in paperwork and playing catch-up with regulators.

Which side do you want to be on?