ISO's engagement

Who does what?

ISO/TC 59, Building construction

The work of TC 59 is the standardization of terminology, organization of information in building and civil engineering processes, geometric requirements for building, building elements and components including modular coordination, general rules for joints, tolereances and fits; performance requirements of buildings and building elements.

The need for common terminology, rules of information exchanges, measurement techniques and material descriptors increases as globalisation and international trade expands.

Established standards from TC 59 have little direct impact upon production, but great impact on the overall conditions for the industry.

The technical committee has:

• A subcommittee related related to terminology (SC2)
• A subcommittee related to material (SC 8)
• A subcommittte related to organization of information (SC13)
• Five subcommittees related to functional/user requirements and performances (SC3, SC 14, SC 15, SC 16, SC 17)

As appropriate, liaison activities exist with other standards development committees and organizations to help facilitate the efficient and effective development of globally relevant standards:

• for fire protection and fire safety, see ISO/TC 21 and ISO/TC 92;
• for concrete and binders, see ISO/TC 71 and ISO/TC 74;
• for installations, see ISO/TC 86, ISO/TC 138, ISO/TC 161, ISO/TC 178;
• for building products, see ISO/TC 160 (glass in building), ISO/TC 162 (doors and windows), ISO/TC 77 (fibre reinforced concrete), ISO/TC 89, ISO/TC 179, ISO/TC 189;
• for thermal insulation and internal environment design, see ISO/TC 163 and ISO/TC 205

Scope:
Standardization in the field of building and civil engineering, of:

• general terminology for building and civil engineering;
• organization of information in the processes of design, manufacture and construction;
• general geometric requirements for building, building elements and components including modular coordination and its basic principles, general rules for joints, tolerances and fits;
• general rules for other performance requirements for buildings and building elements including the coordination of these with performance requirements of building components to be used in building and civil engineering;
• geometric and performance requirements for components that are not in the scope of separate ISO technical committees.

Excluded:

• acoustic requirements (ISO/TC 43);
• fire tests on building materials, components and structures (ISO/TC 92);
• bases for design of structures (ISO/TC 98);
• calculation of thermal properties (ISO/TC 163).

• Standards and other publications