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Bridging safety and technology: The role of BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 in the built environment
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Bridging safety and technology: The role of BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 in the built environment

The built environment sector has long faced challenges in ensuring health and safety (H&S) compliance across project and asset life cycles. According to a report by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), in the UK the annual cost of accidents and ill health attributable to work in construction is estimated to be around £1.3 billion, with around 2.6 million working days lost each year. In addition to the financial costs, health and safety issues in the built environment can have a profound impact on employees, often resulting in physical injuries, long-term health conditions, emotional stress, and reduced quality of life for workers and their families. To help address this critical issue, a new standard has published: BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 Organization and digitization of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) — Information management using building information modelling — Part 6: Health and safety information, which focuses on the organization and digitization of H&S information in building and civil engineering projects. As the sixth part of the BS EN ISO 19650 series on information management using Building Information Modelling (BIM), this standard supersedes PAS 1192-6:2018 as the key standard for managing H&S information throughout the project and asset life cycles. By specifying how H&S information is managed and shared, BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 offers an opportunity to enhance worker safety, reduce costs and ensure projects run more smoothly, with fewer incidents. What does BS EN ISO 19650-6 cover? The core objective of BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 is to provide a robust framework for identifying, recording, using and sharing H&S information digitally and collaboratively throughout the project lifecycle. This includes the classification, sharing, and delivery of H&S information, ensuring it reaches the right stakeholders at the right time, with clear and actionable insights. The standard outlines how H&S information can be used to: Create safer environments for workers, users, and end-users of buildings and infrastructure. Mitigate inherent risks by identifying and managing hazards throughout the entire asset life cycle, from procurement to end-of-life. Enhance H&S performance by reducing incidents and their associated impacts. Optimize project value, improving both construction processes and operational outcomes. By ensuring that H&S risks are identified early and integrated into project planning via BIM tools, BS EN ISO 19650-6 improves the visibility and communication of risks throughout all project stages. Who should use this standard? This standard is essential for all professionals involved in managing H&S information during the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure project. Whether you're a designer, contractor, project manager, or asset owner, the principles and practices outlined in BS EN ISO 19650-6 will help streamline your H&S risk information management processes. Applicable to: Design and construction professionals working to embed H&S information from the planning stages. Facility managers and operators, who need to ensure that maintenance work is carried out safely and efficiently throughout the operational phase of the asset. Procurement teams responsible for ensuring compliance with H&S standards across their supply chain. Notably, the standard applies to all phases of the project lifecycle, whether you're working in the design, construction, or operational stage of an asset. It is also relevant to projects that aren't currently using BIM, as it emphasizes the collaborative sharing of structured H&S information across all project stakeholders. What are the key benefits of implementing BS EN ISO 19650-6? Increased safety: By embedding H&S information early in the design process and throughout the project lifecycle, this standard helps create a safer environment for all stakeholders. Risk mitigation: The clear framework for identifying, classifying, and sharing H&S risks leads to better risk management and fewer incidents on-site. Enhanced project outcomes: Clear and timely communication of H&S information minimizes rework, waste, and delays, boosting the overall value of construction projects. Global applicability: With its basis in BS 1192-6:2018, now elevated to international status, this standard facilitates global collaboration and harmonizes H&S practices across borders. Support for BIM integration: As the construction industry increasingly adopts digital tools and practices, the standard leverages BIM to make H&S risk management more visual, comprehensive, and actionable. The wider context: BIM and the BS EN ISO 19650 series of standards Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a digital process that involves creating and managing detailed 3D models of buildings and infrastructure throughout their lifecycle. It integrates data about a structure’s design, construction, and operation into a centralized model, enabling better collaboration between all project stakeholders, including architects, engineers, contractors, and facility managers. By providing accurate, up-to-date information, BIM enhances decision-making, reduces errors, and improves project efficiency, ultimately leading to safer, more sustainable, and cost-effective buildings. BS EN ISO 19650-6 is part of the broader BS EN ISO 19650 series, which sets the international framework for information management in the construction industry using BIM. The series includes the following parts: BS EN ISO 19650-1: Concepts and principles of information management BS EN ISO 19650-2: Delivery phase of assets BS EN ISO 19650-3: Operational phase of assets BS EN ISO 19650-4: Information exchange BS EN ISO 19650-5: Security-minded information management Part 6 adds to this by focusing specifically on health and safety information, providing vital links between traditional risk management tools and the new digital processes enabled by BIM. By integrating H&S information into BIM, projects can harness the full potential of digital modelling, improving risk visibility and control. To implement best practices in health and safety information management and align your projects with the latest international standards, purchase BS EN ISO 19650-6:2025 today.Read more
Maximize quality management in the built environment with BS 99001
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Maximize quality management in the built environment with BS 99001

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. 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.  Discover BSI Knowledge Over 100,000 internationally recognized standards are available for simple and flexible access with a BSI Knowledge subscription. Build your own custom collection of standards or opt for access to one of our pre-built modules and keep up to date with any relevant changes to your standards strategy. Request to learn more.
Built environment competence standards: A guide for those who manage residential buildings
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Built environment competence standards: A guide for those who manage residential buildings

At the beginning of 2020, BSI embarked on a programme of work to develop a suite of competence standards for individuals and organizations working in the built environment sector.  To date, this has resulted in the publication of PAS 8671:2022, PAS 8672:2022, PAS 8673:2022 and BS 8670-1:2024. Now, to assist with raising awareness of these standards and to recognise their importance for resident safety, BSI has developed a free guide to the standards for those who manage residential buildings. Why are these standards important? The built environment sector is undergoing significant transformation, driven by the need to improve safety, professionalism, and accountability in response to past failures and evolving regulations.  Competence standards provide a structured and consistent approach to ensuring that individuals and organizations have the necessary skills, knowledge, and behaviours to manage residential buildings safely.  With increasing legislative demands, these standards help to bridge industry gaps, enhance public trust, and ensure that building managers, designers, and contractors are well-equipped to meet modern safety expectations. They also align with regulatory requirements, reducing risks and liability for stakeholders while promoting a culture of continuous professional development and responsibility. What does the guide cover? The guide provides a brief introduction to the competence standards, the context in which they were developed and an overview of standards in general.  It goes on to summarize each of the four standards in turn, drawing out key points which are particularly applicable to residents and those responsible for building safety. The guide has been written to aid those who manage residential buildings or have an interest in their management, such as managing agents, resident management groups, landlords, freeholders, housing officers or leaseholders. It has been drafted in the context of the current legislative and regulatory environment, which is expected to change over time, and reflects current and future changes known at the time of publication. Download your free copy of the guide here. What are the built environment competence standards? The competence suite of standards consists of: BS 8670-1:2024 Competence frameworks for building safety. Core criteria. Code of practice PAS 8671:2022 Built environment. Framework for competence of individual Principal Designers. Specification PAS 8672:2022 Built environment. Framework for competence of individual Principal Contractors. Specification PAS 8673:2022 Built environment. Competence requirements for the management of safety in residential buildings. Specification BS 8674 Built environment. Framework for competence of individual fire risk assessors. Code of practice (in development) BS 8670-2 Competence frameworks for the built environment. Core criteria for construction product competence. Code of practice (in development) Learn more about how standards are supporting quality and excellence in the built environment by visiting our industry page here.
PAS 2080: World’s first framework unites organizations to decarbonize buildings and structures
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PAS 2080: World’s first framework unites organizations to decarbonize buildings and structures

Responding to the fact that the built environment is responsible for most UK carbon emissions, PAS 2080 is the world’s first specification for decarbonizing buildings and infrastructure systems. PAS 2080:2016 was designed to help infrastructure organizations reduce their carbon use and costs throughout the entire lifecycle of an asset. It became the world’s first standard for managing infrastructure carbon in 2016.  Seven years on sees the publication of PAS 2080:2023 Carbon management in buildings and infrastructure. Its guidance was revised to set out how the sector can transition to net zero by 2050 by managing and reducing whole life carbon in buildings and infrastructure. PAS 2080:2023 specifies requirements for the management of whole life carbon in buildings and infrastructure, covering the provision, operation, use and end of life of new projects or programmes of work, as well as the management or retrofit of existing assets and networks. It helps organizations to understand the impact of its assets on the wider network; revealing its interdependencies and encouraging early collaboration; defining roles and responsibilities and integrating carbon-focussed decision making and procurement processes throughout the assets’ lifecycle. Using the document facilitates behavioural change within the built environment. PAS 2080 unites all organizations through a common framework that will help companies maximize their whole life approach to carbon reduction from the earliest origins of the projects through its end of life. PAS 2080:2023 has been sponsored by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Green Construction Board (GCB), enabling the standard to be offered free of charge. What’s changed in the revised PAS 2080:2023? This 2023 revision has introduced some important changes to PAS 2080, which all current and potential users need to know about.  These include:  An expanded scope to include all buildings as well as infrastructure An increased emphasis on whole life carbon in line with 1.5°C and circular economy principles Clarification of the roles that control and influence whole life carbon  New consideration of other demands and benefits such as climate adaptation and biodiversity A new emphasis on leadership, governance and collaboration  New guidance for government, regulators and financiers Download your free copy of PAS 2080:2023 today. Empowering urgent early collaboration Like its predecessor, PAS 2080:2023 is straightforward.  It covers setting appropriate carbon reduction targets; establishing metrics, e.g. KPIs, for carbon emissions quantification and reporting; reporting at appropriate stages to enable performance visibility; and continual improvement of carbon management and performance.  A key component is that the standard encourages collaboration between organizations. It shows organizations how to work together to integrate carbon reduction into decision making and procurement from the earliest origins of projects through to end of life. When all parties are using a common framework, it can lead to stronger data sharing, cooperation and complementary and aligned processes. This collaborative approach incorporates the whole value chain, establishing the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders to ensure the maintenance of low carbon focus throughout the projects. Product suppliers, contractors, designers and asset owners can all participate and share their results. On a more pragmatic level, adopting PAS 2080:2023 encourages organizations to take urgent climate action to support the UK’s Net Zero targets. It does this by specifying to users how to reduce their carbon, whilst considering the co-benefits of implementing climate resilient processes and nature-based solutions.  What are the benefits of PAS 2080:2023? By following the PAS 2080:2023 approach, value chain members across the built environment can work collaboratively towards the common goal of net zero carbon transition and achieve the following outcomes: It helps users realize reductions in material, energy and labour costs that reduce whole-life carbon emissions, as well as whole-life capital and operational costs It helps encourage wider uptake and action on carbon management It ensures carbon is consistently and transparently quantified at key points so data can be shared along the supply chain, processes can be aligned and cooperation and collaboration can increase efficiency and reduce costs It helps demonstrate your commitment to carbon reduction, enhancing reputation, supporting staff recruitment and retention, and giving stakeholders clarity and certainty about what’s being achieved It can help you gain a competitive edge when bidding for tenders It promotes innovations that achieve lower carbon solutions It can help users develop their expertise with carbon management It can help users increase confidence and trust in their practice  It can help organizations grow sustainably A look at PAS 2080 in industry Since its launch in 2016, PAS 2080 has been a vital document, bringing carbon-reduction benefits to many businesses within the built environment. But don’t just take our word for it.  Anglian Water achieved a 61% reduction in capital carbon and a 22% reduction in capital expenditure by following the methodologies of the PAS 2080. It also helped them become the first company to issue a sterling green bond. David Riley, Head of Carbon Neutrality at Anglian Water said of the standard “the real power of PAS 2080 is not just that it’s a common framework, but also product suppliers, contractors, designers, and asset owners can all be verified to it. When you’ve got the whole value chain operating in the same way, that’s where the magic happens in releasing lower carbon solutions.” HS2 is also minimizing the carbon footprint of its major transport project by applying PAS 2080 principles. Carbon Manager Mark Fenton gives just one example: “Our designers achieved a 27% reduction in the structural steel used to build the roof of the Old Oak Common station. That equates to 2,700 tonnes of carbon and a cost saving of £7m.” By adhering to the guidance in the revised PAS 2080:2023, your business can demonstrably contribute to the efforts of the industry to achieve climate resilience, and reap the benefits of doing so. Download your free copy today. Discover BSI Knowledge Want to have access to all your sustainability standards in one place? A BSI Knowledge subscription gives you instant access to the resources you need to improve your sustainability processes. The flexibility and visibility it provides of the best practices guidance enables you and your team to get the most from standards - from biodiversity to waste management. Build your own custom collection of standards, or opt for access to our GBM06 Environment & Waste module and keep up-to-date with any relevant changes to your sustainability strategy. Request to learn more.

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