BS 7543:2015

BSI Standards Publication

Guide to durability of
buildings and building
elements, products and
components
BS 7543:2015 BRITISH STANDARD

Publishing and copyright information

The BSI copyright notice displayed in this document indicates when the document
was last issued.
© The British Standards Institution 2015
Published by BSI Standards Limited 2015
ISBN 978 0 580 85379 1
ICS 91.040.01; 91.060.01
The following BSI references relate to the work on this document:
Committee reference CB/101
Draft for comment 14/30295128 DC

Publication history
First published March 1992
Second edition July 2003
Third (current) edition April 2015

Amendments issued since publication

Date Text affected
BRITISH STANDARD BS 7543:2015

Contents
Foreword ii
Introduction 1
1 Scope 1
2 Normative references 2
3 Terms, definitions and abbreviations 3
4 Requirements for durability 5
5 Researching and calculating durability 8
6 Service life assessment 8
Annexes
Annex A (informative) Climatic agents affecting durability 18
Annex B (informative) Guidance on materials and durability 24
Annex C (informative) Examples of UK material or component failures 33
Annex D (informative) Design life data sheet: Worked example for facade
components 35
Annex E (informative) Further Reading and sources of information on
durability 38
Bibliography 40
List of figures
Figure 1 – Degradation of a component and its relation to service life
distributions and physical modelling (Method 2) 9
Figure 2 – Approaches to service life planning (based on BS ISO 15686-2) 12
Figure 3 – Decision process in support of categorization of design life 13
Figure 4 – Phases of the life cycle 17
List of tables
Table 1 – Categories of design life 5
Table 2 – Categories of effects of failure 6
Table 3 – Examples of effects of failure in different categories 14
Table 4 – Expression of durability (summary of guidance) 15
Table B.1 – Untreated timber durability hazards 28
Table C.1 – Examples of UK material or component failures 33
Material or component 0
Table D.1 – Design life data sheet 36

Summary of pages
This document comprises a front cover, an inside front cover, pages i to iv,
pages 1 to 42, an inside back cover and a back cover.

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BS 7543:2015 BRITISH STANDARD

Foreword
Publishing information
This British Standard is published by BSI Standards Limited, under licence from
The British Standards Institution, and came into effect on 30 April 2015. It was
prepared by Technical Committee CB/101, Service Life Planning. A list of
organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its
secretary.

Supersession
This British Standard supersedes BS 7543:2003, which is withdrawn.

Information about this document

This is a full revision of the standard, and introduces the following principal
changes.
• Terms and definitions have been updated to reflect the BS ISO 15686 series.
• The basis of risk assessment for estimating durability has been revised (see
Clause 5).
• The data on climate have been revised to reflect current understanding, in
particular in respect of climate change (see Annex A).
• Annex A gives guidance on the way agents can affect service life.
• Annex B gives guidance on standards and good practice for major building
materials.
• Annex C describes some common examples of construction failure that have
occurred reasonably recently where expectations of durability have not been
met.
• Annex D is an example of a completed design life data sheet showing
application of the principles of this guidance to a specific system (building
facades).
• Annex E is an annotated list of further reading giving information sources
on topics covered in this guide.
• There is also a bibliography updated to reflect the current guidance.
This revision of BS 7543 updates and reinstates certain areas covered in
the 1992 version. A series of International Standards, BS ISO 15686, Buildings
and constructed assets – Service life planning, have been published since 2000.
The provisions of BS ISO 15686 have replaced many of the provisions of the
previous edition of this standard. However, there are a number of elements of
this standard which are complementary to BS ISO 15686. This edition of the
standard incorporates the complementary elements.
As a guide, this British Standard takes the form of guidance and
recommendations. It should not be quoted as if it were a specification or a code
of practice and claims of compliance cannot be made to it.

Presentational conventions
The guidance in this standard is presented in roman (i.e. upright) type. Any
recommendations are expressed in sentences in which the principal auxiliary
verb is “should”.
Commentary, explanation and general informative material is presented in
smaller italic type, and does not constitute a normative element.

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BRITISH STANDARD BS 7543:2015

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a
contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.
Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal
obligations.

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BS 7543:2015 BRITISH STANDARD

iv • © The British Standards Institution 2015 This page deliberately left blank
BRITISH STANDARD BS 7543:2015

Introduction
In order to predict the durability and the possible overall life of buildings, many
factors need to be considered. These include practitioners’ experience of
component or material durability in practice, results of assessments and tests,
and the possible effects of the actions of agents on different parts of the
building or civil engineering structures. It is also important that this information
is communicated clearly to the client and the project team so that the long-term
performance implications of proposed designs can be understood and agreed.
For simplicity the term “parts” has been used throughout to cover both whole
buildings and building elements, products and components.
Predicting durability is not an exact science, but a risk-based approach to the
consideration of failure and acceptable service life. Values calculated for the
predicted service life of a building and its parts can sometimes be no more than
an informed estimation (for example, for novel materials or for unusual
combinations of specific project circumstances). It is usually helpful to state the
facts, assumptions and references on which the values are based.
Predictions of the durability of buildings have to take into account the
variability of operating conditions, environment, workmanship, the quality and
frequency of maintenance and the practical problems surrounding the storage,
handling, installing and inspection of materials or components on a construction
site. Maintaining, repairing and replacing buildings and assets across many sites
or projects can provide a wealth of experience(s) on durability. However, there is
a lack of systematically collated data that can form a basis from which durability
can be accurately predicted for future projects.
NOTE 1 Although BS 5760 dealt comprehensively with reliability, maintainability
and availability, in all industries, it was considered necessary to provide a separate
publication specifically for the construction industry. Many of the parts of
BS 5760 (but not all) have been superseded by applicable CEN standards, and one in
particular is relevant which is BS EN 60812 which describes failure mode effect and
criticality analysis (FMECA). Specific guidance on the durability of particular parts of
buildings is given in many other British Standards, some of which are referred to in
Annex B and Annex C. The design life of parts of a building will often need to be
less than the design life of the whole building and this can be perfectly compatible
with the usage and refurbishment cycles of normal building occupancy. However,
achieving adequate durability without excessive expenditure or consumption of
scarce resources is essential for achieving sustainability.
NOTE 2 Attention is drawn to the Construction Products Directive [1].
NOTE 3 Further guidance on improving the collection of data from buildings
during their in-use phase can be found in BS ISO 15686-7.

1 Scope
This British Standard gives guidance on durability, design life and predicted
service life of buildings, constructed assets and their parts. It applies to both
new and existing buildings.
This standard also gives guidance on communicating and recording information
on the service and design life of buildings, infrastructure and their components
and/or assets when a detailed brief is being developed.

© The British Standards Institution 2015 • 1