Back to Insights
Shirley Parsons Image (19)
Share this Article

Do You Need BS 99001?

  • Publish Date: Posted over 1 year ago
  • Author:by David Myers

All You Need to Know About ​BS 99001

The New Standard for Quality in Construction

This article aims to answer the following questions about BS 99001.

1. Do we need a sector specific quality standard?

2. How is BS 99001 different to ISO 9001?

3. How does it relate to the Building Safety Act 2022?

4. What benefits will it give your business?

5. How do I get a copy of the standard?

6. What are the next steps?

1. Do we need a sector specific quality standard?

ISO 9001, the standard usually applied within the construction industry today, is a powerful generic quality standard but does not directly address the environment faced by organisations working within the construction sector.

a) It is a generic model derived from manufacturing that provides a standard framework but does not acknowledge the project based nature of Construction

b) It does not provide the sector specific requirements to ensure high quality outcomes in the construction industry

c) It is seen as a necessary evil, a badge required to win work, rather than a quality framework to drive cost, timing, and quality.

The results achieved by construction projects today show that projects not only miss their quality objectives but also overrun cost target by 20% (on average) and often run late. BS 99001’s aim is to address these issues and help the UK construction industry deliver higher quality projects on-time and on-budget. The team that developed this standard are confident that the poor outcomes of a project such as the Berlin Brandenburg Airport would have been much better if the project scheme had operated within a BS 99001 framework.

Note: Other industries (now seen as delivering high quality standards) e.g., automotive, nuclear, oil & gas and pharmaceutical, all have sector specific quality standards.

2. How is BS 99001 different to ISO 9001?

The new standard was developed to meet the requirements of the construction industry by acknowledging the following:

a) The project based nature of construction and providing clarity in the interpretation of QMS Quality Management Systems or QMS requirements in the context of the sector

b) The sector specific risks in the QMS is the First Line of Defence in an organization’s approach to risk management.

BS 99001 was developed by a group of construction project experts from across the construction industry, representing the diversity of a construction project from clients and architects through designers and specialist consultants to main contractors and sub-contractors. The team was passionate about ensuring that their combined knowledge and experience of quality project delivery was built into the requirements of the new standard.

The BS 99001 was developed using standard BSI processes, shown below, and was published in mid-2022. The standard has been developed with potential use as a basis for a future ISO standard.

3.How does it relate to the Building Safety Act 2022?

The standard was developed at the same time as the Building Safety Act and has incorporated the necessary quality processes required to meet the new regulations.

4. What benefits will it give your business?

The standard supports the legislation, drives quality methods and will deliver better quality outcomes, including cost and timing. The standard:

a. Includes appropriate requirements/interpretation to meet specific Built Environment aspects and draw links to associated standards and guidance i.e. “joining the dots”

b.Provides a more robust and consistent approach to implementation of Quality Management and closes the loopholes in ISO 9001 that have been used to “game the system”

c. Provides “tighter” guidance on assurance through auditing the application and implementation of the standard to support improvement

5. How do I get a copy of the standard?

The standard is available from the BSI website in one of two versions.A standalone BS 99001 or a combined version of ISO 9001 plus BS 99001 which lays out the ISO requirements followed by the additional BS 99001 requirements for each clause.

 

6. What are the next steps?

There is a BSI run pilot scheme now in progress (see the BSI website for details), with full rollout planned during 2023.

​Please fill out the form below for more information about BS 99001 and how to get certified. To find out more about BS 99001, click here.