Built environment blog

As the UK’s national standards body, BSI publishes a plethora of standards to support those who operate within the built environment, as well as standards supporting the wider economy.

In our first blog article for 2023, Dan Rossiter FCIAT, Sector Lead at BSI and VP-Tech for CIAT, highlights three key built environment standards expected to be published this year which he feels will have the biggest impact on the sector.

Errors within construction projects can occur at any stage of the project life cycle and can be attributed to a number of factors, including defective products and human error. The consequences of these errors can often be significant, from inflated cost and poor quality to, in some extreme cases, loss of life.

In this article, we take a look at some of the most common root causes of errors, as well as any potential solutions offered by the newly published BS 99001:2022.

A construction project’s success is frequently determined by its procurement strategy. If you want to ensure you select suppliers whose morals, ethics and values are aligned to your own, you will need a well-developed strategy.

In this article, we discuss some of the most significant root causes of errors on projects and how tools such as the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit, can support contracting authorities to select the most appropriate proposal through value-based decision-making.

The UK is experiencing a housing crisis and the yearly number of homes being built is just half of what is needed to meet demand. Modern methods of construction and manufacturing methods that harness digital techniques have been encouraged as solutions to industry challenges, with a particular emphasis on the potential of offsite manufacturing for residential housing.

In this article, we take a look at some of the key benefits offsite construction can offer, as well as some of the factors that continue to act as a barrier to its wider adoption.

Homes can be made more secure if they incorporate enhanced security windows and doorsets of the type described in a newly revised standard. This blog post explains what the standard does, how the update has changed it, and why it’s still designated as a PAS.

Employing over 3 million people, the built environment sector is one of the largest in the UK economy. With a diverse range of skills, education, experiences, and behaviours it is no wonder that different parts of the built environment may use different terms to describe the same concepts. As such, the sector can be seen as being divided by a common language.

In this article, we discuss the effects of this division and inconsistent use of terminology and take a look at how BSI's series of standards can help mitigate these ambiguities.

To help you become ‘future-ready’, we share a high-level look at the most relevant and important digital trends to impact the built environment sector in 2022 and beyond.

Today marks the first anniversary of the BSI Kitemark™ for Building Information Modelling (BIM) software. The Kitemark provides assurance that BSI-certified BIM software supports alignment with the BIM ISO 19650 framework.

BSI recently sat down with FM Conway to discuss all things UKCA Marking; their drivers behind it, how they found the experience and what advice they would give to other organizations considering UKCA.

In this series of blogs, we will discuss why climate change is such an important issue in the built environment, unpack some of the new alliances, agreements and initiatives in the COP 26, what they mean for the sector, and what comes next. 

BS 99001:2022 is a new British Standard that supplies additional sector-specific management system requirements that are intended to tackle specific areas of concern in a multi-organizational, project-based way of working. The intention is that it be used alongside ISO 9001 to supplement that standard.

Arising from a recommendation in the Hackitt Review, a new British Standard has now been published on how to manage fire safety information digitally across the life of a built asset. This blog post looks at the background to the standard and what it contains.   

We’re launching a new standard this month on building performance evaluation. This blog post explains the thinking behind the standard’s creation, what it contains, and why it will be valuable to a host of users.

The newly revised British Standard BS 8536:2022, on how to improve built asset operability has just been published. So what does it do, and how has it changed? This blog post provides some answers.

BS 1377-2:2022 is the newly revised British Standard that brings together all the commonly used test methods that aren’t covered in the international soil test standards, as this blog post explains.

BS 8102:2022 gives recommendations and guidance on dealing with and preventing surrounding ground water from entering into a structure below ground level. 

The British Standard on temporary road traffic signs has just been revised, and a significant omission rectified in the process. This blog post discusses why the standard matters and what differences the latest changes will make.

The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) is leading a National Digital Twin Programme on behalf of the UK Government that aims to help harness the power of digital twinning for the national good. This blog outlines BSI’s role in this, and the first standard that’s resulted from this work.

After the release of the IPA’s Transforming Infrastructure: Roadmap to 2030 last year, there appears to be renewed vigour around the digital transformation of the built environment; in particular around innovations such as Information Management, Digital Twins, and the use of Platforms. As the UK’s National Standards Body, BSI are committed to helping IPA realize their roadmap. To demonstrate how we are currently supporting, this short article highlights some of the key standards relating to information management that will be made available in 2022.

The revised European standard on indoor workplace lighting not only reflects technological product developments but a philosophical shift that makes the standard more inclusive. This blog post explains what’s in the standard and how it’s changed. 

Why does product traceability matter? This is the question we set out to answer during our webinar with Barbour ABI on the issue of traceability in the supply chain. To help us unravel this question, we asked a brilliant panel of cross-sector experts to join us. Each of them representing different points of view in the construction supply chain.

In the 2000s, twelve British Standards were produced on the design, construction, and maintenance of pavements using modular paving units – but that proved to be an unwieldy number. This blog post explains how the series is now being consolidated for the benefit of all its users.

In this blog, Oliver Perry, Co-Founder of The Guid3d Home outlines the main challenges faced by home builders and homeowners in the handover process.

The British Standard that gives best-practice recommendations on how to install carpets has now been revised after a two-decade interval. This blog post assesses why and how the standard has changed, and why everyone in the industry should get it. 

Take a moment to look around the room you’re in. Can you tell exactly what the products surrounding you are? Do you have any idea if they’re fit for purpose? And if there were a problem with any of them, would you know how to deal with it? Find out why product traceability matters with Peter Caplehorn, Chief Executive of the Construction Products Association and Dan Rossiter, Sector Lead, Built Environment at BSI.

Filling a previous gap, we’ve now published a new standard on permanent counterweighted guardrails not fixed to the structure. This blog post explains what the standard does and doesn’t cover and what is included. 

In September 2021 The Code for Construction Product Information (CCPI) was published, in response to the Dame Judith Hackitt Building a Safer Future review, as a way of addressing change towards the effective management of product information.

The UK needs to improve the energy efficiency of its non-domestic building stock very significantly if we’re to achieve net zero by 2050, as legally mandated by the Climate Change Act. This blog post discusses a new PAS produced to support the construction and buildings management sectors with that task

Chris Sanders, Glenfeulan Consulting, describes in detail the revision of BS 5250, which comes at a time when buildings are under increasing stress from moisture.

In June 2021 the UK BIM Alliance, the UK’s industry-led community for building information modelling (BIM), published the results of their State of the Nation Survey Report. Dan Rossiter FCIAT, BSI Sector Lead and UK BIM Alliance Ambassador reflects on the findings and what they mean for the built environment.

Following a global pandemic, economic downturn, and adverse weather, businesses operating within the built environment need to become more sustainable and resilient. One way of doing so is to realize the benefits that come from embracing digital transformation.

Read our latest article by Dan Rossiter, Sector Lead at BSI, and find out how standards can support the sector’s digital transformation.

'Huose'?! That was a basic error on our part but what if it had been something as critical as a wrong dimension on a drawing that could have cost your client millions? Without having the robust structure of a quality management system in place within your organization, the probability of errors occurring magnifies, and the knock-on effect of this is a loss of trust.

Read our latest blog article by Ian Richardson, Sector Lead at BSI, and find out why the built environment sector chose to develop its own specific set of additional requirements and clarifications to those within ISO 9001.

BSI continues to deliver services to test and certify products to help ensure they are safe, secure and trusted whilst following government guidance to keep people safe.

Whilst client access to the testing laboratories has been extremely limited, we understand how valuable the opportunity to see your products being tested is. That’s why we have invested in technology that allows our clients to continue to observe their windows and doors security, PAS 24:2016 testing online through Microsoft Teams and various other streaming means.

The built environment currently accounts for at least 40% of the total carbon emissions and huge changes are needed from the sector, to drastically reduce the environmental impact on the planet. This will require all new buildings to be net zero carbon by 2030 and all existing ones by 2050.

Read our blog article to find out what tools and approaches that are currently available to help the built environment professionals achieve this target.

Following the release of the BS EN ISO 19650 series, many organizations have begun to adopt good practices around information management. In doing so, it is important to understand that BS EN ISO 19650, and the other standards relating to building information modelling (BIM), are supported by a myriad of other formalized good practice standards. As such, it is important to ensure that good practice is considered holistically. One example is to consider information management within the context of document management.

We’ve all spent a lot more time in our homes over the last year. Ongoing restrictions have led to higher energy bills for most of us, particularly over the winter. This has likely to increased our appetite for energy efficiency measures.