NZ quantity surveyors join global coalition to unify construction measurement standards
The New Zealand Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NZIQS) has joined a new global movement established to create
international standards in construction measurement.
The International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) Coalition was formed earlier this year by non-profit
organisations representing construction industry professionals in over 140 countries.
“We see this as a very valuable initiative in which New Zealand’s construction measurement professionals – quantity
surveyors – must play an active role,” said NZIQS president, Jeremy Shearer.
Collectively, the ICMS aims to create over-arching international standards that will harmonise cost, classification and
measurement definitions in order to enhance comparability, consistency, statistics, and benchmarking of capital
projects.
In an industry estimated to be worth a staggering $15 trillion by 2025, inconsistency in something as fundamental as
construction measurement and reporting can create huge uncertainty, misunderstanding, and risk.
“Establishing and being able to work with standardised, international guidelines will be good for the local quantity
surveying profession, and for the wider New Zealand construction industry as a whole,” Mr Shearer said.
The formation of the ICMS marks the first time the global construction, project management, cost engineering and
quantity surveying sectors have come together in this way to develop unifying standards which reflect and enhance the
increasingly international construction market.
ENDS