IN Brief:
- Asset data retrieval and audit readiness remain central to Building Safety Act delivery.
- Building AI is embedded in Zutec’s Building Document Management environment, keeping information governed in-platform.
- Zutec is rolling the capability out in beta, with further AI tools planned across compliance and risk.
Zutec has launched “Building AI”, adding an artificial intelligence layer inside its Building Document Management (BDM) software to support building information retrieval and compliance workflows.
The company said the tool is currently in beta and is designed to turn existing building documentation into queryable operational information, without data leaving Zutec’s governed environment. Building AI is configured to work with records commonly held within asset information packs, including O&M manuals, drawings, certificates, asset registers, and compliance documentation.
Users can ask questions across a building record set and receive responses that identify the source document and location of the underlying information. Zutec is positioning this as an audit-ready approach for compliance-critical use cases, where evidence trails and traceability are required alongside speed of access.
Emily Hopson-Hill, managing director and chief strategy and operations officer at Zutec, said: “We’ve focused on immediate, practical value, providing AI specifically built and trained on building data.”
The capability is designed to support day-to-day information retrieval as well as structured compliance processes, including warranty and certification checks, handover validation, and portfolio-wide insight across multiple assets. Zutec has also linked the launch to “golden thread” information requirements for higher-risk residential buildings, where maintaining accessible, updatable, and attributable building information is part of ongoing dutyholder responsibilities.
The tool sits within Zutec’s existing BDM interface, with search functions that can operate at document level and across an asset register. Zutec said existing customers can enable Building AI against validated building data without changing established document management processes.
Zutec also included end-user feedback in support of the release. Steve Holtom, head of maintenance at Keble College, University of Oxford, said: “It delivers fast, accurate access to drawings, manufacturer information, and commissioning data.”
The company said Building AI is the first in a planned set of AI-enabled products spanning compliance and risk management, building safety, and operational insight, with further tools intended to be delivered within the same secure platform architecture.
