Nick Hutchinson, founder of Glider Technology, outlines why the built environment’s challenge is no longer information itself, but the absence of a discipline to make that information usable
In the built environment, vast amounts of data are generated every day, but confidence in that information often drops the moment buildings enter operation.
We spoke to Nick Hutchinson about why the industry does not have an information problem but a discipline problem, and why a new, whole-lifecycle discipline is needed.
You’ve said the built environment doesn’t have an information problem but a discipline problem. What do you mean by that?
Most asset owners and building operators are not short of information. They have drawings, O&M manuals, models, certificates, asset registers and system data. Often years of material. The problem is that none of it reliably supports decisions when decisions need to be made.
The people responsible for assets end up working around their information rather than with it. They are not confident it is current. They are not sure what is missing. They rarely trust that what they are looking at reflects how the building operates today. Decisions are made cautiously and reactively, at a higher cost and risk than necessary.
A discipline problem is different. It is about how information is defined, organised, governed and sustained over time. The industry has done good work at each stage of a building’s life. Design teams have matured in how they produce information. Contractors have matured in handover. Operators and FM providers have matured in how assets are managed day-to-day. What no existing discipline does is connect all of that into one practice across the full lifecycle.
That is the gap. Parts of Asset Intelligence will look familiar to people who already work on information within their stage. What is new is the whole-lifecycle discipline that joins them up. Until the industry recognises that, we will keep investing in tools and standards, even as the underlying problem remains the same.
The industry has invested heavily in digitisation. Why hasn’t that led to better outcomes in operation?
Digitisation has been necessary. BIM, digital handover, CAFM systems and common data environments have moved the industry forward. But digitisation on its own does not guarantee intelligence.
Information tends to be optimised for the phase in which it is created. Design teams optimise for design. Contractors optimise for delivery and handover. Operators inherit what arrives, often without clarity on its reliability or relevance. Once the building is in use, change is constant. Fit-outs, replacements, inspections and upgrades happen continuously, and without a discipline to manage information through that change, confidence degrades quickly.
The result is an industry with more digital data than ever, and less confidence in it than the volumes should suggest. Digitisation has given us better records. It has not yet given us more reliable ground to stand on.
Even when systems are digital, decisions still rely on phone calls, site knowledge and personal experience. The mistake has been assuming that if everything is digital, insight will follow automatically. In practice, someone has to decide what matters, what must be kept current, who owns it and how it should be used.
Asset Intelligence addresses that by focusing on the full lifecycle. It connects how information is created with how it will be used over time. That is the missing link between digitisation and outcome.
How do you define Asset Intelligence in practice?
Asset Intelligence is the discipline that ensures the people responsible for buildings can find, trust and act on the information they need to keep those buildings safe, compliant and performing.
What distinguishes it from existing information management is that it describes the how, not just the what. Standards such as ISO 19650 set expectations. Regulation sets obligations. Asset Intelligence describes how an organisation builds the capability to meet them and sustains it over time.
It works on the principle of progressive confidence. No organisation starts with perfect information. Most are dealing with estates where information was either never structured in the first place or has degraded over the years of change. You diagnose where you are, identify where risk is highest, address that first and build capability progressively. That keeps the discipline practical rather than aspirational.
In practice, it brings together five functions that already exist in fragments across the industry. Requirements define what information is actually needed in operation. Capture produces information to the right standard, whether on new projects, on existing estates where it was never structured, or as buildings change over time. Governance gives it ownership, structure and traceability. Delivery makes it usable by people and systems. Active use turns information into better operational decisions over time.
These functions are familiar individually. The shift comes from treating them as a connected discipline, applied consistently across the lifecycle. When that happens, information stops being a static record and becomes something people rely on.
You’ve highlighted handover as a critical moment. Why does so much information lose value at that point?
Handover is where responsibility changes, and that alone creates risk. Information is produced under pressure at the end of a project, across multiple parties and to varying standards. Final checks happen late. The focus is often on completing the contractual pack rather than on whether the information will be used six months or six years later.
Once the building enters operation, systems change, and information is rarely maintained to the same standard it was delivered. Without clear governance, updates become inconsistent. Trust erodes quickly. Six months after handover, operators are often relying on phone calls and personal knowledge rather than the material they received.
That is expensive on both sides. Contractors are pulled back into disputes over information completeness and held up at final sign-off. Operators absorb the cost of rework, repeat surveys, duplicate asset registers and cautious decision-making.
Asset Intelligence changes the way we think about handover. Instead of treating it as an endpoint, it becomes the starting point for operational use. Information is produced with its future role in mind and governed through change. That turns handover from a source of friction into the foundation for long-term confidence. It is better for contractors and better for asset owners.
Why does Asset Intelligence matter now, and what happens to organisations that get it right early?
The pressure on building owners and operators has increased significantly. Regulation is tighter. Safety obligations under the Building Safety Act are clearer. Carbon and performance targets are long-term commitments, not aspirations. At the same time, assets are becoming more complex and harder to run.
Without intelligence, uncertainty becomes expensive. Decisions take longer, carry more risk and cost more to defend. Organisations end up working around their information rather than with it.
Those who adopt Asset Intelligence early gain a real advantage. They stop relearning the same lessons on every project and every asset. Their information becomes comparable across sites, reusable across teams and reliable over time. Portfolio decisions become easier because the data withstands scrutiny. Risk reduces because confidence is grounded in evidence.
Those who do not adopt it will continue to absorb the cost. They will carry higher risk, less confidence and slower decisions as expectations increase. Each regulatory tightening and each portfolio-level question will land harder.
This is not about disruption. It is about maturity. The industry has done the work of digitising. The next step is the discipline that makes that information useful across the full lifecycle of a building. That is what Asset Intelligence is for.
Learn more
To learn more about why Asset Intelligence matters, how organisations can adopt it, and how Glider enables it in practice, visit: www.glidertech.com/campaign/asset-intelligence/
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