A Linked-in style website dedicated to UK buildings and the people who build them has been launched by a firm led by the Construction Industry Council’s chief operating officer Andrew Link.
Search Cornerstone is a free-to-use website that aims to deliver a comprehensive digital archive of construction projects, including searchable building information, and details of the companies, individuals or products, involved in their construction.
Businesses or individuals are invited to set up online portfolios, detailing their skills and uploading photos of the buildings they have worked on, which are posted on a UK map.
For each project users also “inscribe” their name on a digital Cornerstone, the modern equivalent of historic cornerstones positioned on the side of buildings naming the owner, architect or builder.
Andrew Link came up with the idea for Cornerstone in 1999, but only developed in the last six months, working on it part-time in collaboration with friend and co-director Jon-Paul Winter, who told CM: “We developed the website after we realised there was no central, national database for buildings freely available to the public. We also wanted anyone to be able to record their involvement in a project, whether it is an architect, contractor, bricklayer, electrician, glazier, or electrician.”
Visitors to the website can search the database for specific information, such as: the names of major building projects nearby; buildings in London with over 30 floors; or offices rated BREEAM Excellent. It also functions as a marketing tool, enabling people and connect, message each another and find new work or project partners.
“Big companies have flash websites and expensive marketing services at their disposal, but smaller business are less able to get their voices heard,” said Winter. “Using a relatively simple template we are enabling people to upload all kinds of interesting jobs then showcase their work.”
Although there are other building database websites available, such as the US website Honest Buildings, Winter claims many are geared towards big name architecture and the glossier side of the sector, or the website is involved in the procurement process of projects. “ In contrast, we wanted to map and record any construction job, ongoing or completed, and make Cornerstone available to a broader cross section of the industry,” he said.
The beta verion of the site is now live, anyone who joins before the end of 2014 will receive premium services, due to be introduced in January 2015, for free. Those who join after that date will be charged a fee, yet to be confirmed.
In a press release announcing the launch, Andrew Link said: “Whether you are an architect, engineer or builder, everyone passes by buildings they were involved in and says, with a great sense of pride “I built that”.We aimed to create website which would allow people to record this online to show friends, family and colleagues. We also wanted to make that same information useful to the construction industry as a whole by placing it in a structured searchable format.”
He added: “I don’t think I’m the only person in the industry who will have driven their family around to look at projects they’ve been involved in. I once drove my parents from London to Norwich to see a shopping centre I’d built, hopefully this website will save other families from similar excursions.”
