Towards a new Uniclass

In this short article, Construction Project Information (CPI) reports on the current state of play in the development of a new and dynamic Uniclass.
CPI promulgates Uniclass (which includes the Common Arrangement of Work Sections - CAWS) nationally. CPI committee members comprise representatives from RIBA, RICS, UKCG, ICE, CIBSE, CIAT and CIOB.

CPI established its Uniclass Working Group in 2006, to consider proposals for revision of the Tables in Uniclass. This has resulted in the release of a new Table, Z, for CAD, and the development of a Uniclass Online Tool for generating layer classifications from the Uniclass tables and for requesting new classifications.

Tables under review within the Working Group include those for Construction Entities (Table E), Elements (Tables G and H) and Work Sections (Tables J and K). It has been agreed that the Elements Tables should be combined, and that the Work Sections Tables should be combined.

NBS has contributed particularly to the review of the Work Sections Tables, through its reworking of Table J (CAWS) in order to support the new NBS. The NBS proposals have been endorsed in principle by the Working Group, but have yet to be endorsed formally by the CPI committee itself.

The work that NBS has done on Work Sections has also led to proposals from NBS for the unifying of Uniclass, which could affect all the Tables eventually, but would affect just the Facilities (D), Construction Entities (E), Spaces (F), Elements (G and H), Work Sections (J and K) and Products (L) Tables to start with. New Tables might also be developed as a result of this proposal, e.g. for Activities. Again, these proposals have been endorsed in principle by the Working Group, but have yet to be endorsed formally by CPI itself.