Standardization News

The current edition of E1557, Classification for Building Elements and Related Sitework – UNIFORMAT II, is due for its next five-year re-ballot in 2014. In advance of that date, the UNIFORMAT II task group, part of Subcommittee E06.81 on Building Economics, is seeking input from users regarding the standard's use, and suggestions for revision, to be considered for development and inclusion in the 2014 re-ballot. E1557 is under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings.

Succinct suggestions for revision are currently being sought. The task group is especially interested in comments from frequent users of E1557, as they are more likely to provide meaningful input by identifying if there are difficulties or "work-arounds" they may have personally experienced or employed when using the existing classification. There is a wide range of uses to which E1557 is put and so, to better understand any response, the task group requests that any user input includes an indication of the primary purpose for which the user is employing E1557.

"Due to its longevity and the many vested interests now using E1557, any revision of this standard is not to be taken lightly, but after more than 30 years in use (in essentially similar versions), this form of elemental classification is ripe for a revision that reflects changing technology and the needs of several stakeholders," said Anthony Huxley, the E06.81 task group chairman for UNIFORMAT II and E1557, in a Spotlight story on the standard in the September/October 2011 issue of Standardization News. "The world environment has changed too, prompting an increased emphasis on items and functions that were hitherto of lesser importance."

Huxley also notes that E1557 is a very carefully nuanced elemental classification that suits the needs of a range of users and, by giving them all a common elemental hierarchy, allows for a high degree of interoperability with each other. To maintain this consistent approach, members of ASTM Committee E06 on Performance of Buildings have access to a "UNIFORMATII Guidelines" document that provides a basic explanation of this common approach. This document gives guidance to the UNIFORMAT II Task Group, and to the writers of new elemental classifications as well as revisers of the old.

Please send individual input to the email address E1557ReBallot@gmail.com.

CONTACT Technical Information: Anthony Huxley • Kemptville, Ontario, Canada • Phone: 613-258-9324 O ASTM Staff: Stephen Mawn • Phone: 610-832-9726 O Upcoming Meeting: April 15-18 • April Committee Week • Phoenix, Ariz.