More disasters predicted as analysis exposes “widening construction knowledge gap”

"An unprecedented study of 6 million pieces of data claims to shows that the knowledge framework underpinning UK construction is not fit for purpose.

As the industry reels from the deadly Grenfell Tower fire, the study’s authors warn that practitioners do not have ready access to critical knowledge and that more mistakes are “inevitable”.

Designing Buildings Wiki, an open knowledge base, says it has undertaken the first comprehensive mapping of construction industry knowledge.

It published what it calls the “startling results” in a report this week, which found that:

Too much essential knowledge is difficult to understand, buried in long documents or locked behind pay walls and will not be used.

Practitioners need accessible, practical, easy-to-use guidance to help them carry out everyday activities.

The industry lacks the strategic leadership needed to coordinate the creation and dissemination of knowledge.

The internet has fundamentally changed the way practitioners access knowledge, but the industry has not kept up...."