eBM – Electronic Building Manual

Use it to:

• Facilitate compliance with CONDAM (CDM) Regulations
• Facilitate compliance with the Building Log Book provisions of Part L2 of the Building Regulations
• Facilitate project engineering document & data control – control of document versions, modifications and ‘as builts’
• Facilitate implementation of whole lifecycle (WLC) management of assets and the Early Management pillar of TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
• Assemble an electronic terrier for a property estate

This powerful, easy to use information manager was originally provided to help organisations comply with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994. However, its rich functionality enables it to be used for other purposes requiring the organisation and control of a facility/building’s technical and other documentation.eBM can be used to aid management of all the vital information produced throughout the design and realisation stages of a project to build or refurbish a facility. Whether you’re assembling the information or using it afterwards, managing the information morass with eBM saves time and needless stress.

With eBM the usual problems of filing and accessing paper-based technical information can be eliminated. External consents and other legal documents, standards & specifications, design drawings, schematic diagrams, certificates, manufacture/construction records, photographs, manufacturer’s O&M manuals, commissioning, handover, operation & maintenance information, etc, can be scanned and stored in the system electronically, enabling easy collation and referencing. Paper records not scanned in can still be referenced by their identity and storage location.

Construction (Design and Management) Regulations compliance

Working alongside the APS, the Association for Project Safety (previously the Association of Planning Supervisors), Shire Systems produced this comprehensive, easy to use software system to facilitate the information collection and sharing requirements of the Regulations and to enable assembly of the Health and Safety File.

The CONDAM or CDM Regulations of 1994 sought to ensure that the designer* of any new works took full account of hazards during the processes of construction, maintenance, cleaning and dismantling/demolition of the ‘design’. The UK HSE (Health and Safety Executive) recognised that construction contractors and facilities maintainers were struggling to control risks that could easily have been reduced or eliminated by good design. The HSE placed responsibility with the designer to eliminate, reduce and inform about hazards that could be present during construction, maintenance or demolition of the facility. To discharge the duty of care, the designer has an obligation to consult with specialists in construction methods, maintenance management, health & safety, etc, as necessary.

(*The HSE definition of designer has a very broad meaning. Besides consulting engineers and architects, it includes contractors, building services engineers, surveyors and other engineers).

Full information on the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations requirements can be found at the HSE website

You can visit the Free Leaflets section at HSE Books to download: CIS39, The role of the client; CIS40, The role of the planning supervisor; CIS41, The role of the designer; CIS42, The pre-tender stage safety plan; CIS43, The health and safety plan during the construction phase and CIS44, The health and safety file.

Building Log Book

Using eBM to assemble and maintain a comprehensive technical information file on a building allows you to extract and compile information to satisfy particular needs, like those of Building Log Book required in terms of Part L2 of the Building Regulations.

The Building Log Book is a summary of a new or refurbished building’s key information, focusing on its overall energy performance and elements affecting energy consumption. The Building Log Book must be updated whenever it is affected by a change made to the building or its services, whether the change is made before or after handover, during the defects liability period, or thereafter.

For further Building Log Book information, visit the Publications section of the website of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers www.cibse.org and search for the guide: CIBSE TM31: 2003, Building log books.

Project engineering data control

The project engineering environment is ever-changing, often frenetic and awash with documentation.

The control of project data poses a huge challenge – design data, vendor data, construction data, test and acceptance data, commissioning data and snagging/handover data, etc, etc. The drawings and records produced are myriad, with each individual item probably having many versions. Without the aid of a tool like eBM, you can easily get buried.

If you predefine in eBM the drawings, certificates, inspection and test exhibits you are legally obliged to hold and those you want to review and approve, you can keep track of their development progress and receipt.

eBM provides you with version control ability. It’s crucial to have tight control of document version releases to suppliers and activities in the field to ensure you get the right thing installed and built. Additionally, the CDM and other asset-related Regulations require that primary documentation reflects the ‘as installed’or ‘as-built’configuration – this adds to the challenge of version control.

eBM can help you keep track of modifications. Almost invariably, during project execution, startup and initial operation, modifications have to be made to the design of facilities to get them functioning as needed and these must be recorded and controlled. Depending on the size of the project, the number of discrete modifications can vary from 10’s to 1000’s. As changes are made, you can use eBM to register the modification against the affected drawings, specification, etc, to remind you that ‘as built’revision is required.

Unless you insist on getting information from architects, consulting engineers and construction contactors – and anybody else in the facilities supply chain – in properly organised electronic form, or arrange it yourself, you will end up with boxes of records and files that defy easy referencing. You will have paid a lot to have the information produced, but it’s basically worthless if you can’t easily retrieve an item when needed. To avoid this, insist on the use of eBM by everyone.

WLC management of assets and TPM Early Management

The goal of TPM Early Management is fast and faultless vertical startup of new facilities and, thereafter, reliable, process-capable assets. To achieve this, you have to have persistent, active input to the asset design and realisation process as a specifier, policeman and gatekeeper – if you are to ensure that assets enter service free of defects, with reliability, maintainability, operability and quality functions adequately provided for. That means you’ve got to keep on top of a whole lot of standards, specifications, drawings, charts, lists, inspection & test exhibits, reports, etc. This task can easily get out of hand without a document management tool like eBM.

The overall goals of whole lifecycle management of assets and TPM are the elimination of waste, maximisation of equipment effectiveness and minimisation of the cost of asset ownership from ‘cradle to grave’. These approaches allow today’s manufacturing, commercial and public sector organisations to hit their ‘lean’and ‘best value’targets.

As a Facilities or Maintenance Manager you should have at your fingertips all pertinent information about the buildings, facilities and equipment in your care. You need the detailed ‘biography’of the facility from its conception to the time of its handover into beneficial use. You need the information contained in the easy-reference files that the CONDAM Regulations and Building Regulations provide for – and more.

If your facility is not new, you can still use eBM. As you routinely reference a paper document, why not index it into an eBM system and, best of all, scan it in? The investment in organisation will pay back handsomely in lower cost administration.

Electronic terrier for a property estate

You can use eBM to keep an electronic file of all your individual properties with photographs, plans, valuations, lease details, access details, specifications, maintenance needs and dilapidations schedules, together with any other notable information you require – all with version tracking.