New global standard for construction costs launched

A non-governmental, not-for-profit professional coalition of the construction sector has launched a new universal system that compares construction project costs around the world. The International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) coalition said its system aims to improve cost prediction in infrastructure projects and slash infrastructure investment risk. This project is the first of its kind with global coverage, bringing together numerous organisations from around the world to create shared international standards for presenting entire construction costs, ICMS said. This first edition of ICMS focuses on capital costs; however, future editions of ICMS may incorporate other matters such as costs-in-use, it said. Consistent practice in presenting construction costs globally will bring significant benefits to construction cost management, it said. "Globalisation of the construction business has increased the need to make meaningful comparative analysis between countries, not least by international organisations such as the World Bank Group, the International Monetary Fund, various regional development banks, non-governmental organisations and the United Nations," said ICMS. The coalition aims to bring about consistency in construction cost reporting standards internationally. This is achieved by the creation and adoption of the ICMS, agreed international standards for the structuring and presentation of cost reports. ICMS sets out a structure for describing construction costs in terms of project scope, attributes and values descriptors. Coalition members, who include global professional institutions and organisations, are committed to promoting the implementation of ICMS to encourage world markets to accept and adopt ICMS as the primary standards for presenting construction costs across different nations in a consistent way, it said. The coalition said it accepts that standards setting is a continuous and dynamic process. It will be listening closely to the global construction cost management community to ensure necessary updates are captured for continued improvement.