SFHA 'Home of the Future' projects benefit from architecture expertise

Architecture and Building Information Management (BIM) specialists, Bruach Design and Consultancy, have lent their support to SFHA’s ‘Home of the Future’ projects - part of the Innovation and Future Thinking programme.

Bruach – an SFHA sector associate - joined housing association staff, architects, housebuilders, innovation experts and construction professionals at the Home of the Future Boot Camp in September this year. Following the successful Boot Camp, the team agreed an action plan consisting of projects on everything from modern methods of construction, to green infrastructure to build and enhance community living.

Colin Hastie, Director at Bruach Design and Consultancy, is leading a project to create a digital model for asset management.

Speaking about his involvement in the project, Colin said:

“We are really excited to be involved in the Scottish Federation of Housing Association’s Home of the Future team, who are investigating how we can deliver more efficient, affordable, accessible and low energy housing in the future.

“We are currently working with housing providers and academic experts on a specific project to consider a digital model for managing existing properties, combining our specialisms of architecture and BIM.”

Colin brings to the project his expertise in BIM, which offers a potential model for the system. He explains:

“Our particular project has begun work to look at what kind of data housing associations should be recording on their properties, how this can be stored and interfaced with, and how it can provide a strong foundation for decision making in the future.

“BIM clearly links to this, with intelligent data being attributed to built assets, and offers a potential model around which a system could be built. Providing useful data is key, and a challenge we face is making this easily accessible and understandable to people who may not consider data as exciting as we do!”

This project is one of several taking place as part of the SFHA Innovation and Future Thinking programme. Colin has high hopes for the outputs of all the projects, saying:

“The outcome of all the projects will inform future government policy and the future of the housing sector, and we are proud to be able to play a small part in making the sector better for everyone.”

For more information about Bruach Design and Consultancy, and to read more about Colin’s work on the project, please visit the Bruach website.

For more information on the SFHA Innovation and Future Thinking programme, and to keep up-to-date with all projects, please visit the SFHA website.