Laing O’Rourke has overhauled its data management system ahead of the looming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which come into effect in May.
The regulation will have a significant impact on the construction industry, affecting “everything from BIM models to supply chain databases”, according to Assad Maqbool, a partner at law firm Trowers & Hamlins.
“Data is a core asset to any construction industry provider, but it must be managed and protected to the required standard under the new regulatory obligations,” he said. “Breaches will attract fines of up to 4% of annual worldwide turnover, or €20m (£17.6m), whichever is highest. The GDPR represents a very significant commercial risk and should be treated accordingly.”
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“GDPR is a big challenge, as we need to know where our data is at all times,” said infrastructure development lead Paul Petty, at Laing O’Rourke. “Implementing Commvault has given us tighter control over our data, an understanding of where our data is and whether it complies with GDPR.”
Laing O’Rourke last month implemented the Commvault Data Platform to centralise and control all its data management in Europe.
The contractor has 350TB of active data, and previously managed the physical transportation and archiving of data from more than 90 remote locations back to centralised data centres, which used multiple backup systems. It has now moved to a tapeless backup system which replicates data and applications to public cloud infrastructure.
The CIOB has been reviewing how it manages its data with legal specialists, and has ensured its procedures comply with the new regulations, a spokesman said.
“We want to ensure that members, and other stakeholders, are confident that when data is passed to us it we manage it responsibly and we take great care with it,” he explained.
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