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Lighting the way forward: What you need to know about BS 5266-1:2025
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Lighting the way forward: What you need to know about BS 5266-1:2025

Emergency lighting is one of the quiet heroes of building safety. Most of the time it goes unnoticed, but when it is needed, it provides clarity, reassurance, and direction. In workplaces, shopping centres, hospitals, and transport hubs, well-designed emergency lighting ensures that people can move safely, find exits, and remain calm even when the unexpected happens. The publication of BS 5266-1:2025 Emergency lighting. Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises, the revised British Standard for emergency lighting, is therefore an important step forward. The new edition does more than refresh guidance. It expands the scope of the standard, reflects advances in technology, and supports a more complete approach to safety in modern buildings. For those responsible for people and premises, this is an opportunity to improve resilience, demonstrate best practice, and strengthen confidence in the systems that protect us all. What is BS 5266-1:2025? BS 5266-1:2025 is the latest edition of the UK’s code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises. First developed decades ago, the standard has long provided guidance to ensure that systems meet the performance requirements necessary for safety. The 2025 revision reflects both changes in European standards and the practical experiences of professionals who design, install, and operate emergency lighting systems. The document is more than a set of technical instructions. It is a framework for best practice. It aims to promote a consistent approach across different categories of premises while accommodating variations in hazard levels and the familiarity of occupants with their environment. By following its recommendations, building owners, contractors, and regulators can achieve a higher degree of uniformity, reducing confusion and risk. Key changes in the BS 5266-1:2025 revision The most notable update in BS 5266-1:2025 is its expanded scope. In addition to emergency escape lighting, the traditional focus of previous editions, the new version now explicitly addresses local area lighting and standby lighting. Emergency escape lighting continues to cover the illumination needed to guide people to a safe exit during an emergency. Local area lighting provides illumination to specific points or tasks, ensuring people can safely complete vital activities in the event of power failure. Standby lighting is designed to allow normal activities to continue when the main power supply is lost. This broader view acknowledges the realities of modern building use. In many facilities, evacuation is not the only scenario to consider; sometimes, protecting occupants who remain in place or enabling continuity of essential operations is just as critical. The 2025 revision also aligns BS 5266-1 with changes in EN 1838 and EN 50172, the European standards that define lighting requirements. This alignment strengthens the UK’s consistency with international best practice while ensuring that local application remains clear and practical. Finally, the new edition places stronger emphasis on uniformity of application. The recommendations have been drawn up to encourage a consistent level of safety, regardless of building type, while still acknowledging differences in risk profile. Who should use BS 5266-1:2025? BS 5266-1:2025 is not just for lighting designers. It is relevant to a broad community of professionals and organizations, including: Local authorities and regulators, who need clear benchmarks for enforcement and compliance. Insurers and trade bodies, who rely on consistent standards to evaluate risk. Safety and fire professionals, who are responsible for safeguarding people in diverse environments. Engineers, contractors, and developers, who must incorporate emergency lighting into projects at every stage of design and construction. Responsible persons under UK fire safety legislation, who carry legal duties to ensure safe evacuation and occupant protection. Essentially, if a building has a public or communal aspect, from offices and retail premises to healthcare facilities and transport hubs, BS 5266-1:2025 provides the guidance needed to manage emergency lighting effectively. Looking to strengthen your approach even further? Browse our full portfolio of built environment standards - from fire safety and risk management to construction competence frameworks - and make sure your organization is meeting the latest best practice across every area of building safety. What are the benefits of adopting BS 5266-1:2025? Adopting the new standard delivers benefits beyond compliance. First and foremost, it enhances life safety, ensuring that people can leave a building safely or remain protected if evacuation is not possible. It also provides peace of mind for organizations, knowing that systems have been designed and installed according to current best practice. The standard also promotes efficiency and consistency. By following a common framework, contractors and designers can reduce misunderstandings, improve interoperability, and streamline maintenance. For multi-site organizations, this uniformity is especially valuable, enabling consistent levels of safety across a diverse portfolio. Finally, the adoption of BS 5266-1:2025 supports reputation and resilience. Organizations that can demonstrate alignment with the latest standards show stakeholders, from employees to regulators, that they take safety seriously. This not only reduces liability but also strengthens trust. Looking ahead in UK building safety The revision of BS 5266-1 is part of a broader trend in building safety: the move towards more comprehensive, integrated approaches. Just as fire detection, suppression, and evacuation strategies have become more sophisticated, so too must emergency lighting evolve. BS 5266-1:2025 represents a step forward in this journey. It recognizes that safety is not only about getting people out but also about supporting them if they must stay in, ensuring continuity of operations, and reducing the risk of panic. It places the UK at the forefront of best practice while aligning with international developments. By adopting the standard, you not only comply with regulations but also demonstrate a commitment to protecting people, reducing risk, and promoting trust. Whether you are a regulator, contractor, designer, or responsible person, the message is clear: now is the time to align with BS 5266-1:2025. Get your copy of BS 5266-1:2025 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. Join us for an exclusive member event in London on 5 November. We'll explore the changing landscape of construction product regulations. Learn how upcoming reforms will affect UK businesses and gain practical guidance to ensure your organisation remains compliant, competitive, and ready for the future. Book your place here. 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 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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