Improving Photo Documentation for UK’s Building Safety Act 2022

April 1, 2024

A photograph of the skyline of river thames london.

The Building Safety Act, which was passed in April 2022, represents a landmark reform in building safety standards in the UK, primarily sparked by the Grenfell Tower tragedy of 2017.

In a nutshell, the act aims to significantly improve building safety standards for high-rise residential buildings and ensure that they are maintained throughout the building’s lifecycle.

Table of Contents

Golden Thread of Information

The new act mandates comprehensive documentation requirements for buildings that are deemed “high-risk” (HRBs). These are residential buildings, care homes, or hospitals that are 18 meters or higher, or have 7 stories or more. As the principal contractor or designer, if your project falls within this category, you are now responsible for keeping detailed digital records of the design and construction processes, materials used, and compliance with safety standards. These records form a “golden thread” of information that will be passed onto the occupier of the building (accountable person). The act emphasizes the need for these records to be kept up-to-date and readily accessible for inspection and review.

While the Building Safety Act 2022 does not explicitly mandate photo documentation, it’s more important than ever to maintain detailed visual records of your construction project. What did the site look like at a specific point in time? What is concealed behind that wall? Was everything installed as it should be? These are questions that could come back and haunt you if your documentation process is poor.

Properly documented and organised project photos can act as vital protection against future disputes or inquiries. They provide a clear, indisputable account of the project’s progress and compliance with safety standards, ensuring that you have the evidence needed to address any concerns or claims.

Use SiteCam to Manage Site Photos

If you are looking for ways to improve your photo documentation process, give SiteCam a try for Free! We created SiteCam to make capturing and managing site photos as easy and fast as possible, so you can move on with other work. Below are some benefits of using SiteCam:

Your Team’s Photos Automatically Backed Up

When your team uses SiteCam, everyone’s photos get saved together in the same place, securely in the cloud. No more manual copying of files from your phone to the company server. No more people forgetting to back up photos and then losing them. If you are in the office, photos from your projects appear real-time in the Web App, so you can easily keep track of all your projects.

Image showing the ability to pin photo locations onto a plan or a map in Snap

Location Context with Every Photo

When you have thousands of photos that all look very similar it can become impossible to remember where each photo was taken. By using SiteCam, you can quickly take a photo and mark the exact location on a map or on a plan. No need to manually write down where each photo was taken.

Observation Timelines

Easily keep track of how work is progressing over time in a particular location by creating an observation timeline. Quickly flick through the “before”, “during” and “after” photos with a few clicks.

Powerful Filters to Quickly Find Photos

If you’ve tried looking for a particular photo months after the project has been completed, you would know how painful this process can get. Say goodbye to spending hours digging through unorganised photo folders. You can quickly tag photos in SiteCam or use the powerful AI search feature to find the photo you are looking for.

Animated image showing how to filter photos quickly in Snap web portal

Generate Reports Fast

You have a trusty report template in Word or Excel that you’ve been using for years, but you hate how long it takes to insert the photos, type up the descriptions, and format it nicely. With SiteCam you can save hours of admin time creating photo reports.