The Third Edition of the National Structural Concrete Specification was launched in July 2004 following further work by the CONSTRUCT committee set up to develop and maintain the specification. This Edition was mainly produced to incorporate the new European specification, EN 206.

Work on Edition 4, to incorporate the introduction of EC2 Part1 (EN1992-1) and other issues, has started, and it is hoped to publish it by summer 2009.

The National Structural Concrete Specification for Building Construction aims to directly address the wide and inconsistent approach by UK consulting engineers to concrete frame specifications as well as the ambiguity in specification and interpretation of concrete finishes. The specification, developed by CONSTRUCT, British Cement Association and the Building Research Establishment, is designed to achieve increased efficiency through a definitive, simple, straightforward specification which removes unnecessary conditions and facilitates construction.

The specification is divided into two parts:

Part one

Identifies clauses for standard concrete construction. This ensures that all parties involved - clients, designers and frame contractors - fully understand the normal requirements of efficient concrete construction.

Part two

Provides a clear and separate statement of the specific requirements for individual projects. This highlights 'by exception' the required amendments to the standard requirements as outlined in Part 1.

Guidance notes

Guidance notes form a companion to parts one & two and outlines the philosophy of the specification and background to individual clauses.

All members of the project team can benefit from the NSCS:

• designers will no longer have to develop their own specification from scratch.
• Specialist concrete contractors will be able to tender more effectively and have more freedom to innovate.
• clients will benefit from increased savings and cost benefits. Conservative estimates suggest this could be 5% of the client value (currently £25 million p.a).

Copies of the National Structural Concrete Specification Edition 3 can be obtained from the Concrete Bookshop, Tel 01276 608770 or from CONSTRUCT using this Order Form. Printed copies (including the CD version) are £20 each, or for the CD only £10.
A PDF file of the printed version and the files for the CD version may also be freely downloaded from the Publications page.

Edition 4

The next edition of NSCS will be called Euro NSCS [or similar] and will use Euro standards as reference and provide a specification for designers using EC2. It will be similar in format the Standards EN 13670 ~ Execution of Concrete structures which is required for construction of EC2 designed structures. It is hoped the new edition will be available soon after BS EN 13670 is issued in 2008.
To assist the Technical Committee in their work, a Message Board has been made available to them on this website.