Managing Property Information and Compliance at Scale: Lessons from Boots

Managing property information across a large retail estate means dealing with different store formats, changing specifications, multiple project teams and increasingly demanding compliance requirements.

In our recent IconSystem webinar, Managing Property Compliance Across Major Retail Estates, Andy Parish, Architectural Design and Specifications Manager at Boots, discussed how the retailer approaches these challenges and why standardisation, information control and effective communication have become so important.

Having spent the past five years helping to standardise specifications and design across Boots stores, Andy’s experience demonstrates that successful property information management is not simply about introducing technology. It is about creating clear standards, establishing ownership and making it easy for people to work in the right way.

Creating a single source of truth

One of the biggest challenges of managing a large property estate is maintaining consistency.

Boots has stores of different ages, sizes and formats. Historically, while projects might have been working towards broadly the same objective, individual stores could still differ in the products, materials and specifications being used.

Creating a single source of information has helped Boots introduce greater standardisation.

Andy used the example of something as straightforward as a hand dryer. An estate could potentially contain numerous different models, making procurement and ongoing maintenance more complicated. Standardising around an agreed specification provides greater consistency and makes it easier to understand what has been installed across the estate.

The same principle applies to project information. Instead of construction drawings being distributed through email, where different versions can easily circulate, information can be controlled centrally and made available to the relevant project teams.

For Boots, this extends across architectural information, mechanical and electrical services, lifts and other areas of the built environment, creating a clearer record of what has been specified and built.

Making standards simple to use

Having a central source of information only works if people can find what they need.

Boots has developed design packs covering areas such as flooring, furniture, entrances and other elements of store design. These combine specifications and technical information with practical guidance about how particular elements should be implemented.

They can also incorporate lessons from previous projects, including examples of what should and should not be done.

Over the past five years, Andy has worked to simplify how this information is organised within IconSystem. Legacy information is being reviewed and removed where it is no longer relevant, while current standards are brought together in a clearly defined area.

The objective is straightforward: people should know where to go when they need the latest information.

Bringing people with you

However, Andy is clear that publishing a new standard does not necessarily mean people will immediately adopt it.

Boots uses short toolbox talks to bring together relevant contractors, project managers, architects and other stakeholders when important standards or design guidance need to be explained.

Regular architects’ forums provide another opportunity for people working on projects to raise issues and feed practical experience back into the standards.

This creates a two-way process. A specification may look right on paper, but feedback from the people implementing it can identify potential problems or opportunities for improvement.

As Andy explained:

“I’m a big believer in explaining why we’re doing something rather than just saying, ‘here’s the specification, let’s do it’.”

For organisations trying to introduce greater standardisation, that is an important lesson. Governance matters, but so does explaining the reason behind change and listening to the people expected to deliver it.

Maintaining the golden thread

The importance of controlled information has increased further as building safety requirements have evolved.

Andy repeatedly returned to the concept of maintaining a golden thread of information: ensuring the information associated with a project can be found and understood if it is needed in the future.

For Boots, that can include specifications, project information, building control documentation, fire strategies, data sheets, design meetings and evidence relating to work undertaken.

The principle is that teams should be able to return to a project and establish what was done, which information was used and what decisions were made.

This reduces reliance on information sitting in individual inboxes, hard drives or disconnected folders, where it can become difficult to locate as people and projects change.

Using automation to reduce administration

Better information management can also simplify processes.

Andy highlighted Boots’ response to requirements associated with the Building Safety Act as an example. Working with the IconSystem team, Boots has developed forms covering areas including project information, notifications and declarations.

A process that could previously involve completing a form, scanning it, emailing it and then retaining a separate record can now be handled within IconSystem.

Andy estimated that one such process has fallen from around 20 minutes to approximately two minutes.

Just as importantly, the resulting information remains connected to the project, helping maintain the record required for the golden thread rather than creating another piece of information that needs to be managed separately.

Managing change without losing control

Standardisation does not mean specifications never change.

Boots continually reviews materials and specifications, but Andy highlighted the importance of managing transitions carefully. Changing a specification midway through existing projects can affect materials already ordered, lead times, costs and potentially create waste.

Rather than simply switching immediately to a new standard, Boots considers which projects should continue with the existing specification and where the new standard should be introduced.

It is a practical example of why specification management needs both governance and flexibility. The latest specification may be the future standard, but implementing it effectively requires an understanding of what is already happening across live projects.

Start with what matters most

For organisations looking to improve their own approach, Andy’s advice is to first understand what the business needs its property information processes and systems to achieve.

His priority would be regulatory information.

At Boots, this includes areas such as fire strategies, asbestos information and documentation associated with building safety, CDM and workplace requirements. Once those foundations are established, specifications and other information can be structured around them.

The objective is not simply to put more information into a system. It is to make sure the right information is controlled, current and available when somebody needs it.

For Andy, that is perhaps the most important lesson from managing property standards and compliance at scale. Information held across emails, local drives and different locations can eventually become difficult to find.

Bringing it together in one place, supported by clear governance and processes, helps create a property record that teams can continue to rely on long after an individual project has been completed.