nima calls for consistent information requirements and more joined-up government approaches on information management

Responding to a UK Government consultation on future strategy for the built environment professions, trades and occupations, nima has called for more consistent information requirements and a more joined-up, data-driven approach across government and industry to support the whole-life of built and managed assets. Nima believes:

• a fragmented sector needs clarity on what information is required, when, in what format, to what standard, for what purpose, and for how long
• information management (IM) must be regarded as a key activity across the whole-life of built and managed assets, so that information remains findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable
• given the centrality of the built environment to the UK economy, environment and the health and wellbeing of its citizens, government needs a shared pan-departmental approach to IM across all departments and agencies with responsibilities for asset planning, delivery and operation in their sectors
• bespoke approaches to IM education and training offer little value, and government and industry needs to fund and support a learning outcomes framework that comprehensively defines core IM-related competencies, and
• emerging technologies such as ‘Digital Twins’ and AI have huge but as yet unrealised potential – effective exploitation will require careful regulation supported by codes of practice and procurement processes.

Nima was responding to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Call for evidence: Strategy for the built environment professions, trades and occupations (see May 2026 news). This followed a previous MHCLG consultation on proposals to create a single construction regulator (SCR), to which nima also submitted a response (see March 2026 news).

The latest call for evidence covered five broad areas. Four related to phases of asset delivery (pre-design, design and specification, construction, occupation and maintenance); the fifth concerned cross-cutting issues that cannot be fully understood by looking only at any single lifecycle stage. This fifth secion specifically highlighted the “new technologies and changing practices across the built environment, reflecting wider technological advances, digitisation and modern methods of construction”. Nima’s response (PDF available here) reiterates some themes covered in its March 2026 response to SCR consultation, but also details some of the major structural and cultural challenges posed by a highly fragmented and often silo-based industry sector.

Overcoming fragmented information requirements

Despite recent progress relating to the ‘golden thread’ and building safety in general, plus efforts to address low productivity, energy efficiency and other ambitions, nima said the industry is currently dealing with fragmentation between regulatory requirements, client requirements, asset management systems, supply chain tools and IM tools.

“Across the built asset life-cycle, developers, asset owners and clients … need clarity on what information is required, when, in what format, to what standard, for what purpose, and for how long. This would, in turn, clarify the information requirements they demand from designers, contractors, manufacturers, suppliers and other supply chain businesses, as well as the demands made upon technology providers.”

‘Whole-life’ thinking

As part of the IMI, nima proposes a Standard Information Approach to bring together fragmented industry initiatives through a holistic approach to information purpose, requirements, and delivery, to enable interoperability and help join the dots. A related IMI endeavour, Project IIRIS (see April 2026 news) seeks to align insurance information requirements across the asset lifecycle with building safety needs and RIBA Stage requirements. Nima believes these are important commercially as well as operationally:

“Poorly coordinated information requirements increase transaction costs, delay decisions, increase disputes and weaken accountability across the supply chain. This will resonate strongly with clients, delivery teams, suppliers and manufacturers, those involved in asset and facility management, funding bodies and insurers, among other roles.”

Nima points out that many such asset-owning organisations are ill-prepared to specify, procure, receive, assure, store, retrieve and exploit their asset-related data for the lives of their physical assets. Even if clients were competent in these respects, delivery teams are often unable to meet IM requirements. And while built assets may need to be operated and maintained for decades, even centuries, the life-spans of IM technologies tend to be short (often under 10 years), while built assets may need to be operated and maintained for decades, even centuries.

“This underlines the need to work with interoperable, open-standards-based data that can be periodically migrated to new systems so that information remains findable, accessible and reusable.”

Government and sectoral fragmentation

The built environment’s fragmented approach to information is a consequence, historically, of an industry sector that is also fragmented in how it has been structured behaved, nima says, resulting in what is frequently a “short-termist, siloed and often contractual, adversarial and litigious” approach with a focus om lowest price project delivery.

Nima believes it can help government, industry and the regulator bridge policy, standards, practice, education, and implementation. Through the IMI, it can help align standards, market guidance, competence development and industry adoption around practical information management expectations. Incorporating the UK & Ireland chapter of buildingSMART International, its community includes some of the world’s leading experts on alignment of ISO 19650 processes with other, more data-based standards. With the British Standards Institution, it maintains the IMI Framework (formerly the UK BIM Framework), the overarching approach to implementing information management for the built and managed environment in the UK, including a free repository of industry guidance on data and information management best practices. And its GIIG ‘think-tank’ has also created collateral on IM-related matters which have been openly shared for the public good.

However, to effectively coordinate better IM across the UK built and managed environment, nima calls for a more joined-up policy approach across government. While supportive of government plans to appoint a single construction regulator and a new chief construction adviser, it highlights the need for a shared pan-departmental approach to IM across all departments with responsibilities for asset planning, delivery and operation in their sectors (housing, education, health, energy, transport, justice, defence, environment, etc),

IM expertise is embedded in all asset-delivering departments (and some individuals participate in an informal nima network called IM for Public Sector, IM4PS). Nima believes it is important for Government bodies to share useful knowledge and information, to promote consistent and joined-up thinking, and to champion examples of best practice across departmental boundaries – particularly as the public sector accounts for almost 30% by value of new work. The built environment is also central to the UK economy, environment and the health and wellbeing of its citizens.

Nima cites the NLA’s September 2025 report, “The Built Environment Sector”, which estimated the sector comprises 12% of the economy. The annual carbon footprint of the built environment, embodied and operational, is near 40% of the total (according to the London Energy Transformation Initiative). And the UK built environment is also responsible for about 25% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions (UKGBC figure), and has a direct bearing upon the physical and mental health of the people who live, work and rely upon buildings and infrastructure.

Technological advances, including digitalisation and modern methods of construction, could help improve productivity while also reducing climate impacts, and mitigating adverse impacts upon citizens. Common, consistent, standards-based approaches to information management will help address productivity challenges while also providing data to help industry professionals and organisations more effectively tackle climate change, and deliver better buildings and other infrastructure for UK citizens.

Such a holistic and joined-up approach to industry policy will provide a stronger, common and more consistent basis for industry regulation. … a single construction regulator will only be effective if it can rely on consistently structured, assured, accessible and interoperable information across the whole asset lifecycle. Without that, the regulator risks inheriting fragmented submissions, inconsistent terminology, duplicated reporting, weak audit trails, and poor transfer of knowledge between planning, design, construction, occupation, refurbishment, demolition, and enforcement.

Upskilling

In response to the consultation’s questions on education, training and development, nima says IM is not yet adequately covered by the sector’s providers who historically focused on providing individuals with knowledge and skills related to pre-defined niche disciplines, not the realities of a 21st century digital built environement. Competency frameworks built in isolation by one organisation offer little value; the sector as a whole re-solves the same problems repeatedly.

It advocates development of a Learning Outcomes Framework that comprehensively defines IM-related competencies. Proof-of-concept work is already underway at nima, led pro bono by subject matter experts from across the sector. Targeted funding now would accelerate delivery and enable the creation of the framework around the tailored requirements of a small number of flagship partners from public and private sector – organisations willing to co-design, pilot and be published as exemplars.

Digital Twins, AI and other emerging technologies

While information technology has already transformed many industry processes across the built and managed environment, the full potential has yet to be realised. Nima emerged from the BIM revolution between 2009 and 2016, and other industry buzz phrases (‘single source of the truth’, ‘smart buildings’, ‘golden thread’) have offered promise but failed (so far) to deliver.

In its MHCLG response, nima returns to the theme of joined-up environments, lamenting that the sector is still a long way from delivering the vision of a ‘National Digital Twin’ where connected systems of buildings and infrastructure can deliver meaningful real-time and historic data on asset operation and performance.

On artificial intelligence (AI), it recognises the potential, but says automation must not displace accountable human judgment, particularly in safety-critical contexts. It references a position paper, authored by its GIIG ‘think tank’, for information managers, asset managers, technologists and product specifiers in the built environment (see February 2026 news). It outlines key factors relating to use of AI in decision-making and information management processes, including the need for AI tools to be deployed to work only on trusted, quality and assured data.

In line with the ‘whole-life’ theme, the position paper also looks long-term: information managers need to think about the resilience of tools, the organisational systems / processes to use them, and the governance required over asset life cycles often measured in decades. It also warns about the accelerating pace of change in technology and tools, the need to identify emergent learning, and the commercial and security risks of using AI.

The UK Government is well-versed in managing technological developments across its many policy areas. Nima highlights the Technology Code of Practice maintained by the Government Digital Service / Central Digital and Data Office, sharing guidance on matters including making things accessible and inclusive, being open, making use of open standards, managing security and privacy, encouraging collaboration, and making better use of data. That Code was influential in the GIIG’s development of an interoperability code of practice for technologies in the built and managed environment, published in 2023 (see April 2023 news), which nima feels could help inform the construction regulator’s digital operating model guidance, procurement expectations, and interface requirements. Nima also mentions opportunities for framework procurement routes (for example, BuildUK’s Common Assessment Standard) to incorporate strong IM requirements so that organisations and individuals are mandated to apply standards and best practices as a prerequisite of prequalification.

Professions strategy

Evidence submitted to MHCLG will be used in developing a new long‑term strategy for the built environment professions, trades and occupations (the ‘Professions Strategy’), to be published in Spring 2027.

(Nima’s full response is available here (PDF; will open in a new tab). Nima thanks all the members and volunteers who contributed to the content of its response.)