A new way for small firms to access BSI’s standards

Anthony Burd, Past President of CABE and Director of Built Environment at BSI, explains a new subscription scheme to help small firms.

The built environment has perhaps the longest history of any sector when it comes to the use of standards. The British Standards Institution (BSI) is the UK’s national standards body (NSB) and was the first ever NSB to be created. BSI was also a founding member of the International Organisation for Standardisation, which continues to work in partnership with industry experts to support quality, safety and innovation in the built environment.

This work includes supporting compliance with relevant legislation and regulations, including the Building Safety Act 2022 and national Building Regulations. Notable examples include:

• competency – standards such as BS 8670-1 provide recommendations for the core criteria for building safety in competence frameworks. It is supported by a growing suite of standards for specific dutyholders and other roles in the sector
• structural safety – the BS EN 1990–1999 suite of Eurocodes is a set of structural design standards that provides a common approach for the structural and geotechnical design of buildings and civil engineering works. BSI is starting to publish the second generation of the Eurocodes; and

• energy efficiency retrofit – standards such as PAS 2035 provide requirements on how to assess dwellings for retrofit, identify improvement options, design and specify energy efficiency measures and monitor retrofit projects.

By integrating BSI standards within their working practices, clients, manufacturers and building professionals can ensure their work aligns with good practice. This contributes to a safer, more efficient and sustainable built environment.

Cost of compliance

I have been with BSI for more than ten years, and the issue of access to, and cost of, standards continues to be raised, not least at CABE events. BSI is a private company incorporated by Royal Charter and, while it holds a Memorandum of Understanding with UK governments, it does not form part of government itself. On that basis, BSI does typically have to charge for a number of activities, including access to much of its content, to help pay for its sizable publishing operations. That said, BSI remains a purpose-led organisation without shareholders, so any profit made is reinvested in the company.

More than ever, BSI is mindful of the need for the entire built environment sector to access and use its standards, especially the small businesses that make up such a large proportion of the sector. Therefore, BSI has partnered with CABE to run a pilot subscription programme.

For £360 per year (plus VAT), businesses with fewer than ten employees and with an annual turnover of less than £632,000 can receive view-only access to BSI’s entire portfolio of more than 90,000 standards and to every other standard that it publishes. 

It is fair to say that the sector has been in the spotlight in recent years for building safety. Having access to good practice, consensus-based standards and guidance will become ever more important. 

Watch BSI’s video guide to the library features at b.link/YT_BSImicro

To subscribe, contact pilot programme lead Deborah Brown at [email protected] or see the CABE member benefits online at cbuilde.com/resourcesanddiscounts

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