Dan’s Top Three for 2024

Author: Dan Rossiter, Built Environment Sector Lead, BSI

As the UK’s national standards body, BSI publishes a plethora of standards to support those who operate within the built environment. Here, Dan Rossiter FCIAT, sector lead at BSI as well as vice-president technical at the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists, highlights three in particular.

This year, the standards I’ve chosen are reflective of what appear to be the key themes which currently permeate the built environment: Digital Transformation, Safety, Sustainability, and Innovation.

BS EN ISO 19650-6 (Health and safety information management)

Those of you who either ‘follow’ the ISO 19650 series on our Standards Develop Portal (or follow me on social media) will be aware that a draft of BS EN ISO 19650-6 was made available for comment over Christmas and the New Year. The publication of BS EN ISO 19650-6 later this year will not only complete the transition of the PAS 1192 series to international standards, but also introduce much needed guidance relating to the information management of health and safety information. Broadly the standard will cover three areas:

What is health and safety information, and how to structure this information;
How to incorporate requirements relating to health and safety information into tender documentation like the exchange information requirements (EIR); and
How BS EN ISO 19650-6 augments the existing process within BS EN ISO 19650-2 and BS EN ISO 19650-3.

Given all the work that is happening in the UK in relation to the Building Safety Act, and the requirements to store fire and structural safety information digitally as part of The Golden Thread, I have no doubt that BS EN ISO 19650-6 will be a key standard for 2024.

PAS 8700 (Modern Methods of Construction)

As we’ve observed the news over 2023, Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) haven’t fared too well. With several MMC organizations filing for administration as well as issues with RAAC, confidence in the technology appears to be at a low.

To inspire confidence as well as increase the quality of homes constructed using MMC, the Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have sponsored the production of PAS 8700. Focused on MMC-related process and performance, PAS 8700 specifies requirements, relating to key parts of the asset life cycle, for the use of MMC. In doing so it considers key concepts such as Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) and is aligned to the Government’s MMC Definition Framework.

My hope is that the publication of PAS 8700 will provide the direction and confidence needed to catalyse MMC. Could 2024 be the year of MMC?

Flex 350 (Lower Carbon Concrete)

Those of us who attended trade shows last year will have no doubt seen the ever-strengthening presence of low carbon technologies and initiatives. A highlight for me was Zero and the publication of their Zero Carbon Top Trumps.

BSI continues to recognize the importance of supporting our endeavours to meet our climate targets. A flagship publication last year was PAS 2080, which was revised to consider both building and infrastructure carbon management. This year, I’m pleased to highlight another standard which has been sponsored by the Institute of Civil Engineers (IEC), Flex 350.

Flex 350 provides recommendations for the assessment and use of alternative binder systems (ABS). In doing so, it provides the good practice needed to utilize systems such as geopolymers or alkali-activated concrete.

Given the speed of development around lower carbon concrete, the use of a Flex standard will allow for rapid iterations to keep the standard in-line with nascent thinking, as well as initiatives such as the ICE low Carbon Concrete Routemap. Having only published last October, work is already underway to deliver another iteration in 2024.

Bonus: BS 8670-1 (Building Safety Competence Framework)

Finally, it would be remiss of me to not mention the work currently underway to formalize Flex 8670 into a British Standard. Having undergone several iterations whilst the Building Safety Act and its associated instruments and amendments were published, Flex 8670 is now being formalized. Through formalization, the good practice within will now be maintained by a BSI committee, CPB/1.

Like many of our innovative standards (e.g. PAS 55 [asset management] and PAS 1192 [building information modelling]), Flex 8670’s good practice will be subsumed into our national portfolio. Hopefully this transition will mirror the acceptance of the building safety competencies into business as usual.

…and there we have it. To note, these are just some of the standards that BSI are publishing this year to support the built environment sector, and the wider UK economy. To discover what other standards relating to the built environment are being published this year, keep on eye on our webpage, our social media channels, and events such as our monthly built environment webinars.