Property Logbooks explained
Property logbooks according to "Designing Buildings Wiki - UK"
Introduction
The term digital 'Property Logbook' and similar terms, e.g. building passport, has become popular amongst buildings and property professionals, with many different interpretations being offered for what they might be and which industry sectors might benefit from their use.
All the terms listed below refer to some form of digitally hosted building record that includes live, updated links to open sources, static data held in digital form, documentation and imagery:
Building Logbook
Digital Property Logbook
Renovation Passport
The Definition of a Digital Property Logbook
A digital property logbook is a common repository for all relevant building data. A well maintained logbook should represent a record of major events during a building’s lifetime, such as change of ownership, tenure or use, maintenance, refurbishment and other interventions in the fabric of the building. The logbook should contain copies of significant documentation and certification relating to these events and include links to where information is held on those events on public and/or government repositories.
Documentation could include administrative documents, plans, description of the land, the building and its surrounding, technical systems, traceability and characteristics of construction materials, performance data such as operational energy use, indoor environmental quality, smart building potential and lifecycle emissions, as well as links to building ratings and certificates.
The Role or Purpose of A Property Logbook
A property logbook should be a dynamic tool that allows a variety of data, information and documents to be recorded, accessed, enriched and organised under specific categories. As such, a property logbook can serve a variety of purposes within a building's lifetime. These may include:
Facilitating transparency, trust, informed decision making and information sharing.
Enabling quicker, more transparent transactions and change of ownership, linking financial institutions to land registries and certification bodies.
Connecting building owners with commercial service providers and public authorities for more efficient running and maintenance of a property.
Providing a platform to co-ordinate and record retrofit programmes against targets and frameworks such as the net zero/energy neutral obligations of the Paris Accord.
Allowing public bodies to monitor the health and development status of the buildings within their areas of interest.
Enabling circularity in the built environment from design through to demolition.
Data may be stored within the logbook and/or hosted in a different location to which the logbook acts as a gateway. Some types of data stored in the logbook have a more static nature while others, such as data coming from smart meters and intelligent devices, are dynamic and need to be automatically and regularly updated.
A digital building logbook is a safe instrument giving control to users of their data and the access of third parties, respecting the fundamental right to protection of personal data.
Work on Property Logbooks Around The World
In the UK, the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government (MHCLG) have established a Property Logbook Workgroup within their wider efforts to digitise the residential property market. This workgroup has led to the establishment of a Trade Association for UK providers of digital property logbooks - the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA).
Several EU countries have developed and implemented digital property logbook initiatives, including, for example, the Woningpas in Flanders (BE), the private initiative BASTA in Sweden and the PTNB in France.
All these initiatives share a common objective: to increase data availability and transparency to a broad range of market players. The initiatives are intended to establish whether property logbooks can contribute to EU initiatives and strategies, such as “A Europe fit for the digital age”, the “European Green Deal’’ and its Renovation Wave, the new Circular Economy Action Plan, and the dedicated Strategy for a Sustainable Built Environment.
Property Logbook Initiatives Around The World
National Deeds Depository – logbooks for transaction documentation
Home Information Pack (England & Wales - discontinued)
Dossier d'Intervention Ultérieure – Belgium
Woningpas – Belgium
Bedrebolig – Denmark
Eigenheim Manager - Germany
Gëbaudepass - Germany
Hausakte - Germany
ImmoPass - Germany
QDF Hausakte - Germany
Electronic building ID - Greece
Fascicolo del Fabbricato - Italy
Homebook - France
Le Carnet Numérique du Logement - France
Mon Carnet Logement - France
Wikihabitat - France
Passeport Efficacité Énergétique - France
Libro del Edificio - Spain
PAS-E – Spain
Livro de obra - Portugal
Klimatdeklaration – Sweden
Min Villa – Sweden
Produktkollen – Sweden
BASTA Loggbok – Sweden
Madaster – The Netherlands
Opleverdossier – The Netherlands
Platform CB'23 – The Netherlands
Australia
Finland
Real estate service manual – Finland
Ilmastoviisaat Taloyhtiöt – Finland
Building Passport GBC – Finland
Iceland
Property Register
Switzerland
Federal Register
USA
Arc Platform
HomeZada – digital property logbooks
Global
Global ABC Building Passport Project
Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
BIM.
External references
The Residential Logbook Association (RLBA) - www.rlba.org.uk
The EU Digital Building Logbook (DBL) Project - Report
News Report on the EU DBL Project - News coverage
ChimniWiki - PropertyLogbooksArticle
Twindig - Digital Property Logbook article
inndox is a Finalist for “Best New Proptech” in the Urban Developer Excellence Awards 2021
About the Awards
The Urban Developer’s Awards for Industry Excellence sponsored by Trilogy Funds recognise the best of urban development from across Australia and New Zealand.
In total, there are 23 awards across two streams: Industry Excellence Awards and Development of the Year Awards.
Projects and organisations of all sizes and sectors have the opportunity to participate in these prestigious awards.
The awards provide a platform for us to celebrate leadership and success in the industry, whilst providing a showcase to the broader community of the people, programs, places and projects that are positively shaping our cities.
The finalists are:
inndox
Sitehive
Erin living
Envision VR
Facilio
Mobile DOCK
Team Link
inndox featured in The Urban Developer
Brisbane Start-Up Digitises Property Handover Management
FRI 14 MAY 21
While the law can take a long time to change, proptech can revolutionise and re-engineer a property “pain point” and in turn experience rapid and organic adoption, inndox co-founder Trish Mackie-Smith says.
After two decades running BuildingPro, Brisbane-based proptech enthusiasts Trish and Andrew Mackie-Smith combined their collective experiences in property law, building consultancy, seller disclosure, commercial development and certification to roll out inndox, a next-generation property management tool.
“During that time together we saw the same issues arising time and time again,” Trish Mackie-Smith said.
“One of the clear constraints was the availability of a building’s records—particularly at the time of sale, purchase and leasing as well as warranty claims and defects issues.
“Most people wouldn’t buy a car without a logbook detailing its history with servicing and maintenance and we questioned why that centralised experience couldn’t be replicated within a property environment.”
The solution is a single application that generates property “logbooks” for online record management of the property’s life-cycle from planning and construction to handover and transfer of ownership.
“We wanted to streamline that handover process—which up until that point had been a pain point for property developers trying to pull all this information together at the culmination of a project,” Trish Mackie-Smith said.
“Currently 90 per cent of property handovers are delivered on paper, which can be damaged or easily be misplaced and on average 50 per cent of sales are delayed due to the requisite information not being readily available at sale time because it is sitting in multiple places.
“inndox packages this all up in a single application for a new owner and not only that, it also provides warranty and maintenance alerts and delivers accurate and up-to-date trade contacts to help that owner actively manage a new property.
“Some household warranties can last as long as 25 years and some cases can be split into a multitude of parts; take a solar panel for example—the inverter, the batteries, the panel itself—so we provide owners with an accurate and real time overview of every part of their property.”
The software provides developers with a range of tools and features such as templates—to quickly checklist required compliance information for a particular property, or cloning—to generate information requirements quickly across large scale projects such as apartment buildings.
“The program is not just for mum-and-dad investors or new owners, it is very much designed for top-tier property developers wanting to have that information digitised and available rather than having to have their consultants solving it,” Andrew Mackie-Smith said.
“It's a relatively new concept, and people are a bit set in their ways as the property industry is fairly traditional, however, the emergence of proptech has created a change in attitudes and the recent health crisis has fast-tracked the uptake in our product.
“Moving forward, when people are buying a property they will be asking for the building’s inndox in order to receive all the important information in one centralised handover.”
Taking advantage of the game-changing technology has been national building inspection company Jim’s Building Inspection, which has recently onboarded and digitised its reports.
Similarly, e-conveyancing platform LawLab has also connected with the proptech provider in order to bridge its platform for a seamless “handoff experience”.
“As well as top-tier developers, insurers, and building inspectors, property agents are also beginning to think outside of the box to give themselves a fresh, competitive edge,” Andrew Mackie-Smith said.
“They see inndox as an extension of their product offering, or as one agency recently labeled it a ‘gift’ to a new homeowner at the end of the sales process.
“Agents see inndox really as that next level for after-sale service that has been very much missing after a property handover.”
CASE STUDY: Project Friday using inndox at BRIQ Apartments, Melbourne
“Project Friday is a boutique property development firm based in Melbourne that embraces quality and technology on our developments. We recently used inndox on the BRIQ Apartments project in Melbourne. As an experienced Project Manager, I had never seen this new handover and property management solution for developers and property owners before. inndox has some unique features like cloning, templates, and reminders that saved me about two weeks of admin time before settlement and helped me comply with the many different laws applying to the handover process. It's logical to be providing a sustainable and covid safe solution like inndox. I like that we could customize the app to include our logo and photos. As a customer-focused company we are pleased at the positive feedback we have received from our customers to the inndox logbook”.
Jordan Siegel
Director, Project Friday
“On all our projects, large or small, our focus is always on the human scale, the end-users, the people who will occupy the spaces we create”.
Briq
292–294 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield
13 three bedroom residences of timeless design. Briq is a landmark building designed to last.
The sculptural, spacious and serene architectural approach by Tecture and lush landscapes designed by Jack Merlo create a seamless addition to the picturesque streetscapes of Caulfield. Each residence is designed to provide a welcome home for generations. High ceilings, fine joinery, wide balconies and an emphasis on bespoke elements all represent the considered design for which each Project Friday address is renowned. With a sense of fluidity between inside to outside, Briq residences are designed for relaxation and entertainment. From grand dinner parties to intimate cocktails, evenings at Briq are about good company in a beautiful setting.
At Project Friday we only build houses we’d live in ourselves. Every element of our projects is considered. We use quality materials, fixtures and fittings and don’t cut corners. We build homes to last.
To learn more about Briq please send us an email via the ‘Enquire’ button below or contact David Howard from Castran Gilbert for a buyers information kit on 0407 766 320
ABOUT US
We work with like-minded talented people: architects, engineers, planners, interior designers, builders, landscape architects. We believe in the discipline and the craft of what we're doing, and we only work with people who share those principles.
Project Friday
We’re property developers. We wish there was another way to describe what we do without conjuring up images of 300 apartments in a high-rise tower, no car parking, and without room for a dining table. Because that’s not what we’re about. On all our projects, large or small, our focus is always on the human scale, the end users, the people who will occupy the spaces we create.
We’re also project managers, and in a sense that’s really what we are. We manage projects with care, resourcefulness and scrupulous attention to detail, some on behalf of our clients, others are ours.
And we bring something unique to every one of them.
We call it the Friday approach.
Why Friday
Friday is the point where work meets life, the interface between work and the things that give value and meaning to the work: the laughter of children, conversation with friends, the things that make life worth living.
The Friday Test
When we’re at work we apply The Friday Test. It keeps our focus outwards. Our projects aren’t figures on a spreadsheet. To us they’re real, tangible places to which people will return after work on Friday; places in which they’ll eat, sleep, make love, laugh and play. They’re places of meaning. Places we’d want to live in ourselves.
What makes us different?
We take the long view. We’re not after a quick profit. We don’t want to build apartments that are human filing cabinets. We uphold high standards when it comes to Project Managing our clients new builds or renovations; in materials, in design, in style and comfort. We will not compromise. Above all, we believe in space. Whatever your circumstances, a home can only have meaning when it has room to live, room to entertain, room to grow.
Connection
We create places of connection. Not cramped boxes that actually isolate and confine, but places where people connect with each other, with friends and neighbours, and with the world beyond their windows.
OUR TEAM
Greg Frid – Director
My work at Project Friday is the fusion of my passion for property and architecture, as well as my background in logistics.
To me, it is humbling to think that every building we deliver will leave a lasting legacy on our city’s streetscapes, to be enjoyed by future generations. It is the awareness of this permanency that keeps me grounded, focused, and above all reinforces the immense responsibility of our work as developers.
I enjoy selecting the right partners and team members that share my level of enthusiasm, to ensure that our projects are delivered not only to our to exacting standard, but with an intangible sense of ownership and pride for those lucky enough to live there.
Jordan Siegel – Director
After 15 years of wide experience running multiple commercial and residential sites, Greg approached me to co-create Project Friday as a place where we could bring our skills and our philosophy together.
From the very beginning of my professional career, I have always taken pride in creating a product that will exist for a long time. Today, this continues to inspire my work, along with a passion for detailed design and a drive to explore new ways of working.
I’m proud of the projects Greg and I are delivering, not just because they stand out in terms of quality, but because I know they will be appreciated for years to come.’
