Engineering consultancy records and AI training: a UK guide

Engineering consultancies keep some of the most detailed records of any business: drawings and models, calculations and checks, technical reports, site records, and the email that explains each decision. AI developers want records like these, because they show how experts reason through real problems.

This guide explains what a UK engineering consultancy typically holds, who owns it, what must stay out of a licence, and what buyers say they want. It covers firms registered under SIC codes 71121, 71122 and 71129, and testing firms under 71200 (Companies House). For the basics, start with our UK guide to selling company data to AI developers.

What engineering firms hold

• Design records. Drawings, CAD and BIM models, calculations, design checks, revisions and specifications.
• Project information. UK BIM Framework guidance says the ISO 19650 standards consider all information, "whether it is a construction programme, a record of a meeting, a geometrical model or a contract administration certificate". On projects that follow it, the common data environment keeps a "Journal of information transactions, providing an audit trail" (UK BIM Framework).
• Site and inspection records. Site visit reports, inspection and test records, commissioning records and photographs.
• Correspondence. Email and chat with clients, contractors and other consultants, including technical queries and the answers to them.
• Business records. Bids, fee proposals, timesheets, project accounts and HR files.

Firms have good reason to keep project records for a long time. Under section 135 of the Building Safety Act 2022, a claim under the Defective Premises Act 1972 about work on homes can be brought for up to 15 years, or 30 years for claims that accrued before 28 June 2022 (legislation.gov.uk). This applies in England and Wales. A licence does not change this. The buyer gets a copy, and you keep your own records.

Who owns the records

Three things decide who owns an engineering firm's records.

1. Who made them. The employer is the first owner of copyright in work an employee makes in the course of employment, "subject to any agreement to the contrary" (CDPA 1988, s11(2)). The same rule makes the employer the maker of a database its staff build (1997 Regulations, reg 14(2)).
2. Who else contributed. A subconsultant or freelancer working under a contract for services "will usually retain copyright in any works he produces" (IPO). Their work becomes yours only through an assignment "in writing signed by or on behalf of the assignor" (CDPA 1988, s90(3)).
3. What the appointment says. The contract with the client can move ownership.

The common forms of appointment take different approaches:

Sources: ACE, GMH Planning guide to the NEC4 PSC. NEC says that under the same option in its subcontract, ownership of design material "is automatically transferred to the contractor" (NEC).

Owning the copyright is the first test, not the only one. A drawing of a client's plant can still hold the client's confidential information. The ICE Code of Professional Conduct says "Members must have due regard to their duty of digital privacy, confidentiality and security", and that duty covers "past employers and/or clients" (ICE). The Engineering Council and the Royal Academy of Engineering ask engineers to "respect confidentiality, intellectual property and personal or sensitive information" (Engineering Council).

What must stay out

• Personal data. Names, contact details, CVs in bids, timesheets, HR files and photographs of people. Email can also hold sensitive material: the ICO notes that monitoring all email traffic "could detect special category data, such as emails sent to union representatives" (ICO).
• Client confidential information. Process data, commercial terms and anything a contract or NDA restricts.
• Secure projects. Defence, critical infrastructure and other secure sites usually carry their own security and confidentiality terms. Leave them out unless the client agrees in writing.
• Third-party material. Copies of standards, manufacturers' data, software libraries and other consultants' drawings belong to their owners, not to you.

Removing names is not always enough. "Data protection law does not apply to anonymous information" (ICO), but "Pseudonymised data is personal data in the hands of someone who holds the additional information" (ICO). Our glossary explains de-identification and the motivated intruder test.

What buyers want

Buyers that publish what they take name engineering records directly.

• Pewter, a US firm that runs data-licensing deals for owners of US firms, lists an "Engineering firm · 70 people" deal at $450,000 for "CAD drawings, calculations, technical reports, revisions and specifications". Pewter says the figure was reported by its licensing partner and is not independently verified (Pewter).
• General Data Co lists "Technical drawings", "CAD models", "Change requests", "Commissioning records" and "Inspection and maintenance records" among the data it looks for (General Data Co).
• Labelbox Prism names CAD among the systems it turns "into environments for training enterprise AI systems" (Prism).
• Handshake AI names AutoCAD among the tools it takes records from (Handshake AI), and SuperAnnotate lists inspection reports (SuperAnnotate).

The value is in the reasoning. A calculation, the check that found a problem and the revision that fixed it show an AI system how an engineer works. Records that link these steps across years of projects are worth more than loose files. Our guide to what company data is worth explains what else moves the price.

If the firm is closing or insolvent

In the 12 months to August 2026, there were 1,913 company insolvencies in professional, scientific and technical activities, the sector that includes engineering. That is 8% of the cases where the industry was recorded, in England and Wales (Insolvency Service). The Insolvency Service notes that sector totals partly reflect how many companies each sector has.

Records stay company property when a firm closes. A liquidator can sell them with the company's other assets. If a company is struck off while it still owns them, they pass to the Crown as bona vacantia. Our guides to company records in insolvency and closing a company explain both routes.

If claims could still arise, agree with your insurer and your adviser which records to keep before you close. License copies only.

Before you talk to buyers

1. Map your systems. Document management, CAD and BIM, email, project management, timesheets and accounts, with the years each one covers.
2. Check your largest appointments. Note which used the ACE agreement, NEC4 with or without Option X9, or terms that assign the rights to the client.
3. Find the assignments. For subconsultant and freelance work, find the signed assignments, or leave that work out.
4. Flag restricted projects. Secure sites, projects under NDA, and clients who have refused consent.
5. Remove third-party material. Standards, manufacturers' data and other consultants' drawings.
6. Keep your own full copy. A buyer should get a copy, never your only record.

Tydex values engineering records from basic facts, puts your firm in front of buyers whose criteria fit, and brings you written offers. Get a free valuation.