International construction measurement standards presentation - Prof Tinus Maritz

Prof Maritz is a registered Professional Quantity Surveyor. He was appointed as fulltime lecturer in the Department of Quantity Surveying in 1975, promoted to senior lecturer in 1987 and to associate professor in 2003. Appointed as head of the Department of Construction Economics in 2007 and as chairman of the School for the Built Environment in 2008, positions he still holds. He served and continuous to serve on various professional bodies and committees, such as the Council and Board of the SACQSP and ASAQS respectively, the technical committee of the Joint Building Contracts Committee (JBCC) and the ASAQS Preliminaries and Standard System committees. He is also the ASAQS constituent representative on JBCC. He is author and co-author of a large number of technical handbooks and standard documentation for the quantity surveying profession. Prizes and awards include the Bell-John prize for the best student in any year of study from 1969 to 1972, the Gold Medal of the ASAQS for the best final year student at any university in South Africa in 1973 and the Gold Medal of the ASAQS for meritorious service to the quantity surveying profession in 2014.

Presentation Outline

This presentation examines the lack of global measurement standards in the construction industry and highlights the problems that this creates in the global sphere. Measurement is a fundamental activity for contractors, project cost management consultants (quantity surveyors/cost engineers/construction economists), project managers and a wide range of other professionals in the industry. Whilst a wide variety of national and regional methods of measurement have been developed around the world there is currently no over-arching international methods of measurement. The presentation analyses global standards generally and the various methods of measurement that have been developed around the world with particular reference to the issues and problems associated with the lack of a global measurement standard. The presentation then introduces an initiative to address the identified problems through the development of a global measurement standard for the construction industry. The approach used to develop this standard is described and the potential benefits of the standard are articulated. Whilst the development of an international measurement standard faces many barriers, early indications are that the standard currently being developed will be successful and will have the spin-off benefit of helping to prove a global identity for the profession. The combined effort by the coalition members contributes to a new innovative strategy for the development of a standard for one of the most fundamental of all construction activities – measurement.