A major initiative has been launched seeking to create international standards in construction measurement.

More than 30 professional bodies from around the world, including the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), have met with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss the establishment of the International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) Coalition.

The ICMS aims to create overarching international standards that will harmonise cost, classification and measurement definitions in order to enhance comparability, consistency and benchmarking of capital projects.

In an industry projected to be worth a staggering $15 trillion by 2025, according to Global Construction Perspectives, inconsistency in something as fundamental as construction measurement and reporting can create huge uncertainty, misunderstanding, and risk.

The ICMS Coalition will continue to grow as further professional organisations come forward to join the effort to align high-level principles. By early July 2015, the coalition will be formally launched. Industry corporations, contractors, and key government stakeholders will also be encouraged to contribute to, and lead adoption of, the new international framework in their capital markets.

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The work to draft and consult on ICMS will be led by an independent committee of construction experts, due to be appointed by the coalition in the coming weeks.

The Washington meeting represented a landmark moment for construction, project management, cost engineering and quantity surveying sectors as a whole. This is the first time these professions have come together in this way to develop unifying standards which reflect and enhance an increasingly international construction market.

The coalition has stated its ambition to make tangible progress immediately and to deliver an internationally agreed and adopted standard in the near future.

Amanda Clack, RICS Senior Vice President, said: "The fact that so many international organisations came together in Washington DC shows there is a strong desire to develop a single standard for construction measurement.

"It was evident there was a real willingness to work together collaboratively for the benefit of the public and our clients.  Whilst not everyone was able to attend the meeting in person, the support from the construction industry around the globe has been incredible and I can only see the coalition becoming even stronger as more organisations are able to sign up in coming weeks and beyond. 

"This is about making a difference and I believe is something we will all look back on as a momentous moment in creating a better industry for the future: standards work and construction needs them."

The organisations that have already signed the declaration to become joint members of the ICMS Coalition are:

• Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE)

• Association of Cost Engineers (ACostE)

• Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS)

• China Engineering Cost Association (CECA)

• The European Council of Construction Economists –Conseil Europeen des Economists de la Construction (CEEC)

• Canadian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (CIQS)

• Federation Internationale des Geometres (FIG)

• Ghana Institute of Surveyors (GhIS)

• African Association of Quant Surveyors (AAQS)

• International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC)

• Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET)

• Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS)

• Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors (PAQS)

• Philippine Institute of Certified Quantity Surveyors (PICQS)

• Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

• Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI)

• Union Nationale des Economistes de la Construction (UNTEC)

(MH)