ICE has confirmed its sponsorship of a new Publically Available Specification (PAS) 128: Specification for underground utility detection, verification and location.
At the initial British Standards Institution (BSI) symposium in January 2012, the general opinion of the industry attendees was that they wanted to proceed with a PAS(Publicly Available Specification) as a ‘fast track’ method to obtaining a utility detection specification.
A main sponsor was sought who the BSI felt was appropriate to coordinate funding on behalf of the industry and provide industry liaison. The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was chosen as sponsor in April 2012.
Full funding and sponsorship was finally secured for the project by June and a scoping meeting took place attended by all industry sponsors. At this meeting the broad outline of the specification was agreed together with the appointment of Ian Bush (ICE GEP Chair/ICES) as Technical Lead.
A four person Drafting Panel (DP) was chosen (by BSI and ICE) to write the various sections of the specification, which will then be reviewed by the Steering Group (SG) by January 2013. This will be followed by a 4-week public consultation in March 2013.
It is intended that PAS 128: Specification for underground utility detection, verification and location will be ready for publication by autumn of 2013.
BSI, ICE would like to thank all the industry sponsors for their sponsorship to this important initiative.