As part of our Embedding Digital series, Nigel Stroud, Principal Digital Asset Data Lead at Heathrow, explained how better structured data is helping the airport operate more safely, maintain assets more effectively, and make more informed investment decisions.
This session looked at how Heathrow is continuously improving the management of digital information about its assets—right from early design, through delivery, and into day-to-day operations. Heathrow is a busy, space‑constrained site that works a bit like a small city, with a huge range of assets (baggage systems, escalators, tunnels, CCTV, fire systems, and plenty more). Keeping good, consistent data makes it easier to run the airport safely, maintain what’s already there, and make better decisions about where to invest next.
Key learning points:
- Get the “common language” right first. A consistent way to name and locate assets (and link them to records like maintenance and cost) is what makes everything else work.
- Fix the handover dip by sharing information earlier and more often. If data only gets cleaned up at the end of a project, operations teams lose trust and value drops—so aim for progressive delivery, not a last-minute handover.
- Tech helps, but people and contracts decide whether it sticks. Leadership buy-in, plain language (less jargon), and clear contract terms on data ownership/deliverables are what turn pilots into business-as-usual.
Standardisation and handover
The importance of a standardised structure for asset information was a key theme. Heathrow uses a location‑based hierarchy (location, level, space, system, asset) so every asset can be uniquely identified and linked to things like maintenance records, costs, and work breakdowns. That same coding feeds into document numbering and asset registration in systems such as Maximo, helping different tools and teams stay in sync instead of each running their own naming conventions.
The “handover dip” is a recurring challenge: information is often highly structured at project completion, but loses value once operational teams take over. This can happen when systems are disconnected, processes differ between teams, or data is only validated at the end of delivery. Heathrow’s response is a phased roadmap covering process, organisation, technology, and information management. The focus is on progressive information delivery—sharing usable data throughout a project rather than relying on a final handover exercise.
Key examples
- Digital asset assurance: Replacing paper drawings with iPads on site, enabling teams to scan barcodes, verify installed assets against schedules, and record sign-offs and non-conformances in real time. Heathrow reported time savings of more than 50% in assurance activities.
- Spatial project visibility: Linking project and design information to mapping tools using Esri, allowing operational teams to understand proposed changes earlier and identify potential impacts before designs are finalised.
- Digital safety risk management: Moving from spreadsheets to shared digital workflows where risks can be linked directly to models and drawings, improving coordination between design teams and significantly reducing outstanding risks.
- Making the common data environment clearer: spelling out where different types of information should live across the toolset (not just supplier deliverables), so people know what goes where and how information moves through the stages of work.
It’s not all about technology
The session reinforced that digital transformation is not just about technology. Leadership support, clear governance, and accessible language were all seen as essential to embedding new ways of working across project and operational teams.
Looking ahead, Heathrow’s ambition is to establish strong information foundations first, then connect datasets into a “virtual Heathrow” environment to support planning, maintenance, safety, and sustainability. The discussion also explored alignment with ISO 19650, the role of contracts in defining data ownership and deliverables, and how modern methods of construction could improve data quality earlier in the asset lifecycle.
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