BSRIA has published a new guide in a joint venture with the B&ES and CIBSE.

In an age of BIM and information management, it is easy to forget that a key part of the information used during construction projects is the specification. It is the mechanism for the designers to impart their technical detailed requirements for the engineering services and systems.

The New Model Format for Building Services Specifications guide complements Design Framework (BG6) and provides a model format for building services specifications. BSRIA says this will aid efficiency and understanding for all parties involved in preparing and using specifications.

Specifications which are inaccurate can lead to confusion, errors in pricing and can exacerbate difficulties in the commercial and contractual process. It is vital that specifications are written in such a way as to be readily understandable by the user. They should clearly describe what systems are to be provided and how they are intended to be operated once installed.

The guide provides the general framework covering the arrangement of sections and clauses within which an author can use their content with the least amount of change.

Chapters of the guide cover the 'traditional' specification practices, key points on preparing more effective specifications, model specification formats and an example. Classification has also been included along with the standard numbering to aid comparison with some existing specification preparation tools. A full list of Common Arrangement of Work Sections (CAWs) work sections has been included in the appendix. This will be helpful when aligning the specification to BIM activities, particularly as the final pieces of the Government’s Level 2 BIM strategy fall into place.

This guide complements Design Framework for Building Services (BG6/2014) and is available to buy either as part of a set with this guide (for a 20% discount) or individually. Hard copies or PDFs are priced at £40 for non-members or £20 to BSRIA members. BSRIA members can download the PDF version for free at www.bsria.co.uk/goto/mfbss