NEWS
Achieving infrastructure savings by setting global standards
Industry News
September 14, 2017
Last month, the International Construction Measurement Standards Coalition (ICMSC) launched the International Construction Measurement Standard, which is intended to harmonize cost, classification, and benchmarking definitions across the construction industry. With significant portions of the world's spending each year focusing on infrastructure construction, it is becoming increasingly critical to ensure consistent communication regarding cost and other factors. ICMSC was formed in 2015, and is composed of 27 experts with the goal of creating a single set of international standards.
“The standards have only just been launched, and there is great interest in working with Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and other coalition member organizations to implement the standards in Canada,” said Lorella Paterson, director of professional products, Americas, for RICS. “The Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS) and Canadian Association of Consulting Quantity Surveyors (CACQS) are both members of the coalition, and are committed to working with RICS to promote the standards.”
A variety of projects fall under the heading of ‘infrastructure,' including roads, energy systems, railways, bridges, schools, and hospitals. Evidence (such as that discussed in the February publication, “Reinventing Construction Through a Productivity Revolution”) suggests standardizing comparisons of construction projects will improve cost prediction, methodology, and overall consistency. This makes it simpler to control expenses.
“We are delighted to launch this new standard. With increasing levels of public-private, cross-border financing and construction investment funds underpinning our pension schemes, it is vital to make sure costs can be assessed in a transparent way,” said See Lian Ong, chair of the ICMS Standards Setting Committee. “The ICMS framework will improve ways of working, and this collaborative project is an example of the global construction profession uniting to improve ways of working for the public interest.”
