Page 12 - CSA INDEX - Spring Summer 2021

Let's briefly look at the NRM

The NRM provides a standard set of measurement rules and
guidance for the management of construction projects and the
operation & maintenance of buildings. It is published by the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

It provides a structure for the management of work associated
with all elements of a building – as illustrated by the table extract
on the right.

These outcomes are entirely dependent on the correct execution
of Building Services work. And the successful delivery of Building
Services work must be a whole-team endeavour.

Built environment professionals – both Building Services and
non-Building Services – therefore need to have a structured way
of making sense of the complex world of Building Services and
managing all the work associated with it.

All of my training about Building Services is structured in
accordance with the 14 categories of Building Services defined in
the New Rules of Measurement (NRM).

In my 40-year career, I believe this is easily the best method
that has been developed to make sense of, and thereby more
successfully manage, this complex range of engineering systems.
Over 2,000 people from some of the world's leading built
environment businesses have attended my training courses – and The NRM defines 14 categories of Building Services; Category
their opinion is overwhelmingly the same. 1 – Sanitary Installations is at one end and Category 14
-Builders Work in Connection with Services is at the other end.
In between are 12 other categories containing a huge range of
individual system types.

There are also 11 categories of External Services defined
elsewhere in the document, from Category 1 – Water Mains.

Supply to Category 11 – Builders Work in Connection with
External Services.

For each of the 14 categories of Building Services there are
specific sub-categories, as illustrated by the extract from
material relating to Category 4 – Water Installations on
the right.

So system-by-system, category-by-category, the NRM creates
a world of Building Services that is structured in a logical way.

This system-based framework means that built environment
professionals can design, specify, cost, programme, procure,
install, commission, handover, operate and maintain Building
Services in a clear and consistent manner.
The NRM is familiar to young people entering built environment
professions. An increasing number of companies and project
teams are also using it.