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Centre for Digital Built Britain completed its five-year mission and closed its doors at the end of September 2022

This website remains as a legacy of the achievements of our five-year foundational journey towards a digital built Britain
 

Disclaimer: owing to purdah, we have not made reference to Government in this article

CDBB awards Turner Harris tender to support development of a National Digital Twin

The Centre for Digital Built Britain has appointed Manchester-headquartered consultancy Turner Harris to lead the Enablers stream of the National Digital Twin Programme following a competitive tender. Led by James Harris, Turner Harris will design and deliver a prioritised programme to understand and address industry, economic and societal blockers to the adoption of the information management framework and digital twins.

Alexandra Bolton, Executive Director of CDBB said:

'The Centre for Digital Built Britain is pleased to be working with Turner Harris on the Enablers workstream of National Digital Twin Programme. We were impressed by their collaborative programme proposal, which will quickly work to provide real support to industry.'

James Harris, Chief Executive Officer of Turner Harris said:

'The National Digital Twin programme is an exciting, pioneering approach to transforming our built environment, and one that we are very pleased to have been asked to help to deliver We will be working closely with colleagues from across CDBB and broader national and international networks to secure ambitious commitments for change and to address the complex challenges that lie in the path of the UK’s national strategy for a Digital Built Britain.'  

In April 2019 CDBB published the Roadmap, a series of recommendations and actions needed to develop an information management framework for the built environment. The framework will establish the building blocks to enable effective information management across the built environment and will pave the way for the development of the national digital twin. 

The National Digital Twin Programme’s six streams reflect the Roadmap, to ensure that the benefits of the programme are realised.

  • Approach – To define the overall approach for delivering the benefits of effective information management across the built environment and interfaces with the natural environment.
  • Governance – To establish the structures and processes for managing the development, adoption and ongoing oversight of the framework.
  • The Commons – To develop the necessary support for effective information management via guidance, specifications and standards.
  • Enablers – To identify and address the relevant potential blockers.
  • Change – To facilitate adoption of the framework across the whole ecosystem of the built environment.
  • DT Hub – to provide a learning and sharing community for those who own, or who are developing, digital twins within the built environment.

The Centre for Digital Built Britain’s Digital Framework Task Group (DFTG) was launched by HM Treasury in July 2018 to deliver the National Digital Twin Programme. It reports to HM Government through the CDBB Strategic Advisory Board. The overarching purpose of the programme is to steer and guide the successful development and adoption of the 'Information Management Framework for the Built Environment'. 

Start-up funding for the Enablers stream is provided by the Construction Innovation Hub to align and accelerate industry development of digital twins. The Construction Innovation Hub was launched in November 2018 and brings together world-class expertise from the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), BRE (Building Research Establishment) and  CDBB to transform the UK construction industry. With £72 million from UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the Hub aims to change the way buildings and infrastructure are designed, manufactured, integrated and connected within our built environment. www.constructioninnovationhub.org.uk