LibGuides: Built Environment: Technical, regulations, contracts & standards

Technical and regulatory information

Here are a range of professional related sources that can help you find technical information.

Photo credit: Simon Quinn, Sheffield Hallam University

Construction Information Service This link opens in a new window
Please use your University email address to register for an Accuris account so you can access Construction Information Service.

An index and summary of standards, regulatory and advisory documents for the UK construction industry plus their full-text images. Covers documents essential to the design and construction of buildings, construction management, contract documents, health and safety and design guidance. Also includes a direct link to the Building regulations, the Metric handbook and BS 5588, Fire precautions in buildings together with a link to NBS BRAD. Updated weekly.
isurv This link opens in a new window
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance and practical commentary in the areas of building surveying, commercial property, construction, environment, planning, estate agency and valuation.
Designed to help professionals keep up to date with current practice, regulatory matters, legislation and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance. Homepage includes links to The Red Book, The Blue Book and SMM7. Updated fortnightly.
BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) This link opens in a new window
Costings and prices for the UK building industry.
Includes elemental cost analyses, average building prices for over 550 building types, a range of indices (including tender prices), construction statistics, market reports and daywork rates.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Advice and guidance from the Health & Safety regulatory body for the UK.

Occupational Health and Safety Information Service This link opens in a new window
OHSIS is a database of UK legislation, reports, standards, grey literature and other guidance publications to do with workplace safety, safety training and environmental and public health, covering many industries and professions. It also provides health and safety news and legislation updates.
Health and Safety Science Abstracts This link opens in a new window
An index of journal articles, conference papers, reports and books about risk, safety and public health. Covers aviation, nuclear, medical, occupational and environmental safety, as well as ergonomics, waste disposal, pollution, and epidemics.
As a Proquest database, it allows cross-searching with other Proquest databases and easy export of resources to Refworks.

Building regulations

You can find out more about building regulations and planning in the following sources.

Approved documents: building regulations
This is the UK government pages about approved documents and building regulations.

Construction Information Service This link opens in a new window
Construction Information Service includes a direct link to the Building regulations.
isurv This link opens in a new window
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance and practical commentary in the areas of building surveying, commercial property, construction, environment, planning, estate agency and valuation.
Designed to help professionals keep up to date with current practice, regulatory matters, legislation and Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) guidance. Homepage includes links to The Red Book, The Blue Book and SMM7. Updated fortnightly.

Building Regulations in Brief by Ray Tricker; Samantha Alford
Call Number: We have this book as a print book and as an eBook.
ISBN: 9781003175483
Publication Date: 2022
This tenth edition of the most popular and trusted guide reflects all the latest amendments to the Building Regulations, planning permission and the Approved Documents in England and Wales.
Building Regulations Pocket Book by Ray Tricker; Samantha Alford
Call Number: This is an eBook and available via Library Search.
ISBN: 9781003173786
Publication Date: 2022

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: New Rules of Measurement

Use the most up to date information!

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: New Rules of Measurement
The New Rules of Measurement (NRM) were updated in Dec 2021. You can find all three volumes of NRM on the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors: New Rules of Measurement webpage.

How to find contracts

Looking for Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) contracts?

Take a look in the database - Construction Information Services.
You can find out more and the full range of JCT contracts at the JCT website.
You can also take a look in Library Search and use the name of the contract, the term - Joint Contracts Tribunal - or the name of a book you find on the JCT website.

Construction Information Service This link opens in a new window
Please use your University email address to register for an Accuris account so you can access Construction Information Service.

An index and summary of standards, regulatory and advisory documents for the UK construction industry plus their full-text images. Covers documents essential to the design and construction of buildings, construction management, contract documents, health and safety and design guidance. Also includes a direct link to the Building regulations, the Metric handbook and BS 5588, Fire precautions in buildings together with a link to NBS BRAD. Updated weekly.

The Joint Contracts Tribunal list of contracts
This is a link to the Joint Contracts Tribunal website.

Understanding JCT Standard Building Contracts by David Chappell
Call Number: We have this as a print book in the Adsetts Library and as an eBook in Library Search.
ISBN: 9781138082755
Publication Date: 2018
Guide to JCT Standard Building Contract 2016 by Sarah Lupton
Call Number: This is available as a print book and as an eBook.
ISBN: 9781000700152
Publication Date: 2019

Looking for New Engineering Contracts (NEC)?

You can find out more and the full range of NEC contracts at the NEC website.
You can also take a look in Library Search and use the name of the contract or the term - NEC.
You can also take a look at the Library Search link below to find all the books related to NEC3 or NEC4 with NEC in the book title.

NEC Contracts
This is a link to the NEC contracts website.

Understanding the NEC4 ECC Contract by Kelvin Hughes
Call Number: This book is available as an eBook in Library Search or as a print book.
ISBN: 9781138499720
Publication Date: 2019
NEC3 and NEC4 compared. by Gerrard.
Call Number: Adsetts Library - Main Collection 692.8 GE (LEVEL 5)
ISBN: 9780727762016
Publication Date: 2017

Library Search - NEC3 OR NEC4
This is a link to Library Search. The search finds all the books that cover NEC3 or NEC4 with the words in the book title.

If you need any help finding contracts, get in contact using Library Chat.

If there is a contract or book related to a contract that the library does not have in stock, you can use the free Document Supply Service to request a copy or the Suggest a Purchase form.

What is the difference between the two options?

That's a great question! The Document Supply Service will provide you with a loaned copy form another Library which will have to be returned after the loan period. If you use the Suggest a Purchase form this will be sent to your subject librarian and they will consider whether to purchase the book for the collection or recommend the Document Supply service.

Library Chat
You can contact the Library 24/7 using Library Chat.
How to request a resource not available in Hallam Library
A guide to placing a request using the free Document Supply Service.
Suggest a purchase
We are always looking for new publications to support your learning, teaching or research, and to keep the library collections up to date with high-quality materials. If you think we're missing something crucial though, we'd like to hear about it.

British Standards

Standards set out a common technical specification to ensure products and processes are safe and consistent.

They are used in all areas of construction and engineering.

British Standards Online This link opens in a new window
PDF copies of virtually all current standards produced by the British Standards Institution with technical specifications covering products, processes and practices for all areas of engineering, industry, food and work, as well as standardised glossaries of terms.

Please note:
- if you are working on your own device instead of a University computer, you will need to download and install the FileOpen plugin to view British Standards. Documents that require FileOpen must be read in standalone readers such as Adobe Acrobat and cannot be read in browser applications.

- if you are working on a University computer, click on "Download pdf" which will save the document to your C drive Downloads. Open up Adobe Reader and open the file in there.
British standards are only applicable in the UK: however, some British standards have been adopted from standards produced by international bodies, such as ISO or CEN. Such standards will be indicated in their standard number - in the case of the previous example, BS ISO and BS EN respectively - and will be applicable outside the UK in the countries which belong to those bodies. Please note that the database can be searched either by standard number or by keyword, but not both: so if your search fails the first time, make sure that the right box is ticked under the search box.

Other standards

We have major collections of broad-ranging standards from two other organisations.

You can access all current standards from each organisation as PDFs, as well as some withdrawn and draft material.

ASTM Compass This link opens in a new window
Full-text PDFs of active and historical engineering, construction and materials-testing standards from the ASTM, Peer-reviewed journals, conference papers and books including their Special Technical Papers.
You can also search withdrawn standards or work items (standards in development) but full text may not always be available.
Material from this database is also accessible via Library Search