It has been a busy few months for the RED Foundation and with data continuing to rise up the agenda, now is a good time to provide an update on what we’re up to and how to get involved.
What is the RED Foundation?
The RED Foundation is a not for profit initiative set up to ensure the real estate sector benefits from an increased use of data, avoids some of the risks that this presents and is better placed to serve society. It is an alliance of sector wide representative bodies and individuals.
We achieve our aims in two primary ways:
Connecting people, projects and initiatives around the topic of data in the built environment
Raising the sector's engagement with the ethical challenges that the use of data can present.
We aim to act impartially, objectively and openly. We are focused on the application of data across the whole real estate sector and built environment and strive to avoid reinventing wheels.
What have we done recently?
We are made up of several working groups which bring together a diverse group of volunteer experts to explore a particular part of the sector. There has been lots going on, but to highlight a few of the latest initiatives:
Data Standards Catalogue – the Data Standards Group led by Chris Lees has launched a data standards catalogue to help people navigate what is out there. Have a look and add any standards that you are aware of here.
Code of Conduct – the Data Ethics group has carried out some discovery work to explore what a Sector wide GDPR Code of Conduct might look like. Where this goes next is under discussion, but it is great to have explored the practicalities of this in more detail and the pros and cons of such an approach. Thanks to the Data Ethics group and in particular Chad Wollen for leading this piece of work.
AI group – it is hard to avoid the topic of AI and we have launched a new steering group focused on this topic and its relationship with Data. This is a brilliant group of people led by Chair, Tom Shrive who is widely experienced in the application of AI in the sector.
Energy data sharing – we have established a project group to explore the sharing of building energy use data in the sector. This is critical to the ambitions of the sector when it comes to better managing both energy use and more broadly meeting sustainability ambitions. This piece of work is being led by Simon Hayter.
Data Ethics Maturity Assessment - The data ethics steering group, led by Yusra Ahmad, is soon to launch a data ethics maturity assessment which empowers organisations to navigate the complexities of responsible data use by evaluating maturity across three key dimensions—organisational, operational, and technical readiness— providing actionable, expert guidance to enhance data ethics practices, fostering trust, compliance, and innovation.
What next?
In the coming months, we will see more activity ranging from an updated letter to the Government about use of the UPRN in the UK and also the potential of the first International strand of the RED Foundation. More to follow.
Get involved and thanks
Get involved in the conversation and keep up to date by joining the RED Foundation LinkedIn group here.
A huge thank you to all of the supporters of the RED Foundation and in particular to the 100 or so volunteers now actively working to help the property sector benefit from data.
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