Work on updating drywall and plastering British Standard has now started and FPDC members are playing a key role.

The standard in focus is BS 8212, which has existed in its current form since 1995. and now that work on the harmonised European standard has been shelved, FPDC has applied to BSI for permission to update the British Standard. This has been accepted and work is set to commence.

Three standards are affected: BS8212, BS8000 part 8 (which is a replication of the relevant parts of BS8212) and BS5234, which deals specifically with the strength and robustness of drywall systems. These standards are inter-linked and there is a lot of cross-referencing between them, with large amounts of repetition (and some contradiction!).

Steve Halcrow said: “We have therefore proposed a process whereby we bring these together into one updated version of BS8212, and this is the basis on which work has started.

“The first phase to bring together a combined document that contained all the standards has been completed. The working group will meet for the first time this month. It is anticipated that the total process will take 9-12 months to complete.

“Given that this is the standard affecting all drywall work, and concentrates on critical matters such as tolerances and levels of finish, it is in members’ interests to be in touch with what is going on. Even if you’re not one of the working group you can make your views known by emailing us directly on technical@fpdc.org.”