Blockchain-aided information exchange records for design liability control and improved security

With the recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies in the construction industry, information is exchanged digitally with little regard to the contracts that govern them. Although parties collaborating in project design are contracted to the client, they transact with each other when using BIM and other collaborative practices without any direct contractual relationship among themselves. This results in a lack of design liability control and an increase in claims and disputes. Further, the use of multiple software packages results in the exposure of data to third parties, data corruption and compromise in data privacy (using data for unintended purposes), data integrity (unauthorised access to sensitive data), and data longevity (loss of data post-handover). This study investigates blockchain technology (BCT) to address these issues using a design science research method. The current information exchange processes were mapped to identify the critical transactions that may benefit from record-keeping on the blockchain. Next, a prototype was designed to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed BCT integrated process models. Three key project processes, design review, design coordination and request for information; and two potential conflict scenarios during and post-construction were simulated as part of the evaluation. The prototype's implementation exhibits BCT's ability to record snapshots of individual design inputs to the overall project design and to enable a clear and long-term record of key exchange transactions. This improves the design liability control for contributing stakeholders and the auditability of the exchange records. Further, the proofs derived from such a system are independent of any third-party storage or subscription. Given the nature of records stored in a blockchain, the existence, integrity, and authenticity of information along with its associated metadata can be verified in the long-term as well. Therefore, BCT could be a supplementary technology that supports the existing information exchange systems.

Automated summary

With advances in Information and Communication Technologies in the construction industry, the lack of direct contractual relationships among collaborating parties using digital exchange results in design liability control issues and an increase in claims and disputes. This study investigates using blockchain technology to address these issues by mapping critical transactions and designing a prototype to demonstrate the benefits of integrating BCT into project processes. The implementation of the prototype shows BCT's ability to improve design liability control and auditability of exchange records independently from third-party storage.