The British Standards Institution has asked the SCI to explore user needs of designers adopting the Eurocodes.

It is hoped that the project will lead to the design of a new generationof standards based information designed to  to ease the introduction of the structural Eurocodes.

The initiative has been endorsed by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

So we need to talk to practical designers about how you use standards documents, what issues are likely to arise during the transition to Eurocode design and, most importantly, what you expect BSI and others to do to help.

If

• You’re engaged in practical design and;
• You have an appreciation of electronic design tools,

then we would like to hear from you.

 How do we want you to help? SCIand BSI will be running a number of user workshops. One at BSI in Chiswick and others remotely, using online collaboration tools. During these sessions we looking at how the Eurocodes ‘work’  and asking designers for ideas, giving you some ideas of ours and trying to get some measure of what should be done to help. Based upon what you tell us we’ll produce some prototype material and then, using electronic meetings, ask you to validate these possible outputs.

Reward? Designers who engage in our workshops will be issued with personal copies of two key standards (BS EN 1992-1-1 and BS EN 1993-1-1) and you will become the first owners of the SCI’s ‘Burgundy Book’ (load span tables to the Eurocodes).