This British Standard gives guidance on durability, required and predicted service life and design life of buildings and their components and/or parts. It applies primarily to new buildings and their components and/or parts rather than to alterations and repairs. It also gives guidance on presenting information on the service and design life of buildings and their components and/or parts when a detailed brief is being developed.
This British Standard applies to civil engineering projects involving buildings, but only partially to other civil engineering projects such as roads, bridges and dams.
This British Standard does not deal with many aspects of obsolescence, i.e. when buildings or parts of buildings are replaced or altered either to suit different needs and changing conditions including change of use, mandatory requirements or when new products offer better performance without a corresponding increase in cost. It should also be borne in mind that a decision to replace or alter obsolete buildings or their parts may be influenced
by a reassessment of their predicted service lives.
NOTE 1 The titles of the publications referred to in this standard are listed on the inside back cover.
NOTE 2 The numbers in square brackets in the text of this standard refer to the numbered references in Appendix D.