Logbook's Dynamic Structure in Building Process

The knowledge of the characteristics of each building in the actual context of continuous leg- islation and market condition changing, is extremely interesting for stakeholders (users, own- ers, architects, etc.): according to their role one may need to know building characteristics to use and maintain the building properly, another may be interested in the economical evalua- tion of the building, another may need data for takeover or retrofitting. The building logbook, if structured and used in a proper way, helps in conservation, updating and transmission of building documents, in monitoring the correct use of various parts by the users and in main- tenance scheduling and control. It can also be used as checklist of compulsory documents during the design and construction phase. The actual problem in Italy is the lack of information connected to a building, from the absence of as-built documents, the building manual is rarely supplied by the constructor, to all other documents produced during the design and construction phase and then abandoned or lost and to all documents related to the use and maintenance of the building. Even without a law that makes it mandatory, the discussion on the law has been going on for years in Italy, the building logbook importance is clear and its use can be extended with small effort using indexes assessing quality and quantity of building documents inside the logbook itself. These indexes, without a great amount of effort and money, could bring really impor- tant information, helping to avoid problems and to increase the value of the building itself. Moreover, indexes measuring quality of building documentation in the logbook can be used in conjuction to others assessing building degradation to have a complete picture of building condition.