Towards establishing national standards for the classification of *construction information in the Republic of South Africa

The Republic of South Africa lags far behind countries that have started developing construction information classification systems over the last 50 years. During the past decade especially, much attention has been given in those countries to new classification systems and to spearheading the development of national IT standards for construction. However, this is not the case with the local construction industry. The existing local classification/specification systems are still based on the traditional ‘trade format’ and not one allows for electronic access or application.

A study of contemporary building literature in the AEC/FM industries showed that in the field of product data information management there is much diversity within countries and between them. It is generally accepted that it would be in everybody's interest to rationalise these diversities because of the global interrelationship that continuous to grow between countries, mainly as a result of the rapid growth in IT.

It is envisaged that the results and conclusions reached in this research study will extend knowledge to the local construction industry about the need for national standards for classification and their relative importance and significance in structuring procurement documentation. All building project participants could benefit by utilising and applying this knowledge to monitor, coordinate and control their requirements and operations.

The challenge for the local construction industry will be to manage the establishment of national standards for construction information classification and to promote the widespread adoption of these national standards by the industry. If the local construction industry can view the proposed change to adopt these national standards as a necessity rather than a burden, the future path towards integrating construction information, via data integration and IT connectivity and interoperability would be much clearer. The adoption of these national standards should improve the quality and reliability of procurement documentation that should result in time and cost savings and improved relations in the industry.