Quality management is essential in the built environment sector. It can have significant implications for a business’s performance, as well as for safety in both the short and long term. BS 99001 is a critical standard that enables organizations to take their quality management one step further.

For the project-based nature of the built environment, completing work on time and within budget is paramount. Quality management is the linchpin of successful project management, making the difference between success and failure for your company.

BS 99001 Quality management systems for the built environment sector expands upon the requirements of  BS EN ISO 9001. It was developed in response to the industry's need for a trusted, sector-specific solution to enhance quality and build trust.

Its implementation by businesses can lead to operational consistency, improved productivity, reduced costs, increased efficiency, better service delivery, and enhanced reputation.

The cost of poor quality: Why is BS 99001 needed?

The construction industry acknowledges that it has fallen behind other sectors in the UK when it comes to consistent and sustained quality.

Research conducted by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) revealed that over three-quarters of construction professionals believe the industry's quality management is lacking.

Embracing an effective quality management system is an imperative for organizations operating in the built environment. From concept and design to decommissioning, impeccable quality assurance is required at every stage to ensure successful project outcomes – including a critical need to ensure health and safety for occupied buildings.

The costs of not effectively managing quality can be high:

• Poor quality work costs money. 

• Poor quality work loses customers. 

• Poor quality work poses a health and safety risk.

• Poor quality work harms the environment.

BS 99001 builds on the foundation of BS EN ISO 9001 by supplying additional sector-specific project management quality system requirements that tackle areas of concern that may arise in projects, which are typically complex and multi-organizational.

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What does BS 99001 cover?

BS 99001 has been published for over a year now, and those who have implemented it have seen it as a game-changer for the challenges the built environment is facing, whilst allowing organisations to showcase their commitment to quality.

‘Quality underpins absolutely everything we do. BS 99001 is very much in line with this core principle. It has helped raise the profile of quality in our boardroom and throughout our business – and hopefully also within our industry.’

-          Adrian Shah-Cundy, Corporate Responsibility Director, VolkerWessels UK

This critical standard provides additional quality management system requirements, specifically tailored to organizations operating in the built environment sector. Unlike traditional organization-based approaches, it embraces the multi-organizational, project-based nature of construction.

BS 99001 tackles sector-specific challenges that go beyond the generic requirements BS EN ISO 9001, making it a powerful tool to address issues compromising asset suitability, safety, and durability.

To learn more about how standards can help your business deliver excellence across all its projects, read our article ‘Best practice standards for construction supply chains’

What are the benefits of BS 99001?

BS 99001 supports building safety by helping people and organizations in the built environment sector to improve quality through the adoption of the standard alongside ISO 9001.

The key benefit to businesses of adopting BS 99001 is that better quality delivers lower costs and minimizes the time taken to deliver a project overall. Thus, implementing this standard should help to drive profits and the reputation of companies that adopt its recommendations.

It is likely that the standard may become an essential guidance tool within the industry (as similar sector-specific quality management recommendations are already being used within the Aerospace industry and the Energy & Utilities sector) and that clients specify adoption of the standard as a prerequisite of tendering.

The standard aims to help you:

• Tackle specific areas of recognized concern in the built environment.

• Increase the fundamental suitability, safety, and durability of the built assets you work on.

• Develop your expertise and efficiency in project-based quality management.

• Demonstrate your commitment to a high level of quality assurance through implementing the standard and/or being certified by a third party organization.

To learn more about the benefits of BS 99001 in the built environment sector, download our infographic.

Are you already a user of ISO 9001?

BS 99001 is not designed to replace ISO 9001, but rather to act as a catalyst to achieving greater benefits from implementing ISO 9001. It enables users to demonstrate a commitment to providing a high level of quality assurance on projects, including through the supply chain, and in their own day-to-day operations.

For those in the built environment sector that have already adopted the quality management systems guidance in BS EN ISO 9001, they are in a great position to improve upon their quality management processes by implementing the industry-led recommendations in this new standard.

If you already have a copy of BS EN ISO 9001, then you can simply purchase your copy of BS 99001 to use alongside it. Alternatively, you can purchase PD 99001.

PD 99001 is a single document containing all the requirements of ISO 9001 followed in turn by the respective content from BS 99001. This will allow a much more user-friendly way to understand how the requirements of BS 99001 expand on the requirements of ISO 9001 and therefore make it easier to implement both within your business. It should also allow for a simpler auditing process.

If you do not have either ISO 9001 or BS 99001 then you can purchase both documents separately if that is your preference. Or you can purchase PD 99001 if you wish to have all the requirements in a single document.

Join the construction businesses who have already implemented BS 99001 to achieve higher levels of quality and success in their projects, by adding BS 99001 and/or PD 99001 to your collection today. 

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