The golden thread is the digital record of building safety information that the Building Safety Act 2022 requires for every higher risk building. It is not a filing cabinet and it is not a one off project. It is a living record that must stay accurate, accessible and up to date for the life of the building. Here is what that means for the people responsible.
Which buildings are in scope?
The higher risk regime covers residential buildings at least 18 metres tall or at least seven storeys, containing at least two residential units. These buildings must be registered with the Building Safety Regulator, and each has an accountable person, with a principal accountable person where there is more than one.
What the golden thread must contain
The golden thread holds the information needed to understand a building and keep it safe. In practice that includes
- as built drawings and plans, including fire strategy information
- details of the structure, materials and building systems
- fire risk assessments and the works that followed them
- safety case information supporting the safety case report
- records of refurbishments and building works over time
- maintenance and inspection records for safety critical equipment
The information must be held digitally, be transferable to whoever needs it, and be protected against unauthorised change. When the accountable person changes, the whole record hands over with the building.
Accurate, accessible, up to date
Those three words carry the whole obligation. A record that was accurate at handover and never touched again fails the test the first time a contractor replaces a fire door and nobody logs it. The golden thread only works if everyday activity feeds it. Completed works, new certificates, closed remedial actions, updated drawings. If keeping the record depends on someone remembering to file things, the record will decay.
The safety case connection
The principal accountable person must assess building safety risks and prepare a safety case report demonstrating how structural and fire risks are being managed. The Building Safety Regulator can call for the report at any time. A credible safety case leans directly on the golden thread. Every claim in the report should trace to evidence in the record, from the fire risk assessment to the maintenance history of the smoke control system.
Mandatory occurrence reporting and residents
The regime adds two further ongoing duties. Safety occurrences that meet the reporting threshold must be reported to the Building Safety Regulator through the mandatory occurrence reporting framework. And residents must be given a real voice through a resident engagement strategy, with safety information shared in a form residents can actually use.
How PropLink builds the thread
PropLink treats the golden thread as something the system maintains rather than something people remember to do. Verified certificates, completed work orders and closed remedials file themselves into the register as they happen. Every file is hashed on arrival, documents are superseded rather than overwritten, and entries map to the statutory categories with a coverage view that shows gaps before the Regulator finds them. The golden thread feature page covers the mechanics, and the PropLink HRB product page shows the wider building safety toolkit, from safety case reports to mandatory occurrence reporting.
The golden thread rewards teams that wire it into daily work and punishes teams that treat it as an annual tidy up. Build the habit, or better, build the system, and the regulatory side largely takes care of itself.