Overview
Soft Landings Framework 2018 is a six-Phase approach to help the project team focus more on the client’s needs throughout the project, to smooth the transition into use and to address issues that post-occupancy evaluation (POE) has shown to be widespread. It is not just about better commissioning, fine-tuning and handover. Soft Landings can be used for new construction, refurbishment and alteration and is designed to run alongside all forms of procurement. It allows for a full programme of post-occupancy evaluation that the project team can use to improve a building's performance and make it sustainable over the long term.
This 2018 edition of the Soft Landings Framework includes a number of major changes to reflect feedback received from the industry alongside project and operational practices over 9 years of using Soft Landings. These changes include the introduction of the term ‘Phase’ in place of the previous ‘stage’. This is primarily to promote the understanding that Soft Landings is not tied to any particular plan of work, but is rather about groups of activities that may occur at certain Phases of a project rather than at a particular work plan stage. It also separates it from the usual work plan language of set project stages. The most obvious change is the adoption of six Phases in place of the previous five stages. This is to separate out the design and construction activities, and to strengthen the construction content.
Soft Landings complements rather than duplicating existing procedures used by the construction industry. Specifically, it has been designed to be the underpinning chassis for environmental assessments like BREEAM and LEED, all forms of energy performance certification, post-occupancy evaluation (POE), building logbooks, green leases, and industry key performance indicators (KPIs). Soft Landings comes into its own, closing the loop between design, construction, operation, feedback and into design again. As the title suggests, the purpose of Soft Landings is to provide better buildings.
This guide supersedes BG 54/2014 Soft Landings Framework.
For more information about Soft Landings, go to www.softlandings.co.uk