Construction

Construction facilities in which people live, work, and recreate on a day-to-day basis including buildings, parks, public spaces, and infrastructure for utilities, form our building environment. It is crucial to contribute to “high-quality” built environment to ensure a safe and sustainable development, characterized by diversity, individual and collective well-being, social justice and cohesion, energy and economic efficiency. For this reason, the following Technical Committees have been established.

CEN/TC 350 ‘Sustainability of construction works’ provides a standardized approach for the delivery of environmental information on construction products, the assessment of the environmental, social and economic performance of new and existing construction works (buildings and civil engineering works), and more generally the sustainability performance of construction works.

In 2020, CEN/TC 350/SC 1 'Circular economy in the construction sector' was created. The purpose of this subcommittee is to develop deliverables enabling the transition from a linear to a circular economy of the construction sector to support a climate neutral and resource efficient sector.

CEN/TC 351 ‘Construction products - Assessment of release of dangerous substances’ develops projects under the standardization request M/366, addressing horizontal complements to the mandates for the development of horizontal standardized assessment methods for harmonized approaches relating to dangerous substances under the construction products regulation. It addresses topics, such as emission to indoor air, and release to soil, surface water, and ground water.

CEN/TC 127 ‘Fire safety in buildings’ develops standards for the assessment and classification of the fire behaviour of building products, components and elements of construction and fire risks related to their application and more generally for fire safety in buildings. The Construction Products Regulation (CPR) is a key legislation for fire safety in buildings.

CEN/TC 371 ‘Energy performance of buildings’ is concerned with standardization related to the energy performance of buildings (EPB). The TC ensures the development, alignment and maintenance of a coherent set of standards for the determination of the EPB by  developing standards at overarching EPB level and by  coordinating the activities of related and specialized TCs that are responsible for the development of EPB standards within their scope, thereby ensuring harmonization.

CEN/CLC/JTC 11 ‘Accessibility in the built environment’ provides a standardized approach under standardization request Mandate M/420 to support the European accessibility requirements for public procurement in the built environment. The accessibility of the built environment is a key element to assure the effective participation of EU citizens in the everyday life, as well as the suitability of the buildings, streets, parks, to being effectively used by people notwithstanding their disabilities or age.