POLICY | HYWEL DAVIES Setting standards Standards are an essential tool of everyday life, underpinning everything from boiling a kettle to ordering products for a project. Hywel Davies explores the standards process and how CIBSE members can be involved T DR HYWEL DAVIES is technical director at CIBSE and has been a member of, and chaired, British, European and International standards committees for more than 30 years www.cibse.org he UK has a performance-based system of Building Regulations. They set functional requirements that a building must meet; many readers know the requirement in Part F of the regulations for England, for adequate means of ventilation provided for people in the building. (F1(1)) This sets out what must be achieved, not how. The devolved administrations use similar words and Scottish Building Standards are more explicit about the health of occupants. The Approved Documents, or Technical Handbooks in Scotland, provide guidance about compliance common building situations. They set out what, in ordinary circumstances, may be accepted as reasonable provision for Following the guidance tends to a presumption of compliance with the requirement(s) covered by the Building Regulations 23 Approved Documents For the full details see Table 6.1 of Building a Safer Future, which was based on research undertaken by CIBSE. bit.ly/CJSep21HD2 79 pieces of legislation 86 government guidance documents 176 industry guidance documents (including 13 published by CIBSE) 485 different standards STANDARDS guidance. But there is no obligation if alternative ways to comply are available. Whichever path they choose, designers will need to rely not just on formal guidance, but on relevant guidance, such as CIBSE Guides, and the 485 national or international standards published by BSI. But what are they and how are they made? BSI Standards is the UK national standards body, recognised by government. It is the UK member of the European standards bodies CEN and CENELEC,1 (not institutions of the EU) and, globally, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the IEC, its electrotechnical counterpart. BSI develops national standards and is the UK participant in the development of European and International Standards. More than 100 built environment committees work on product and installation standards as well as design standards such as Eurocodes. While the range of activity is broad, the process of writing a standard is relatively straightforward, if not well understood. A draft is developed for review and comment by the committee and then for public comment. Anyone can submit comments. They must be submitted online or on a comment template and must be constructive, identifying concerns clearly and ideally offering alternative drafting for open, fair and transparent standards. Standards should not favour particular interest groups or members of some trade bodies over others. Those comments go to the committee, which must form a consensus on each one. A final draft is then published and a European or International (ISO/IEC) standard goes to a further formal vote on the final draft. As well as providing guidance to Building Regulations and Standards in the UK, they also provide the basis for products to meet construction product regulations in the UK and Europe and are a key tool in trade agreements around the globe and increasingly relevant to UK exports. Standards committee membership is open to all organisations with legitimate interests. Committees are listed on the BSI website2 and CIBSE is represented on a number. We regularly advertise draft standards that are issued for comment3 so that all CIBSE members can comment. There are several out now, so why not take a look? References: Note: Standards should be based on the consolidated results of science, technology 1 Comit Europen de Normalisation, or European Committee for Standardization, and CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization. 2 Apply to be a committee member, BSI bit.ly/CJSEP21HD 3 CIBSE Draft Standards Comment Hub bit.ly/3sMkOyb 16 September 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Sep 21 pp16 Hywel.indd 16 27/08/2021 15:32