GREENING OF CANADA'S NATIONAL MASTER SPECIFICATION
8 th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DURABILITY OF BUILDING
MATERIALS AND COMPONENTS
May 30 - June 3, 1999 Vancouver, Canada
T. DUNBAR
Coordinator, National Master Specification Secretariat, Technology,
Architectural
and Engineering, Real Property Services, Public Works and Government
Services
Canada, Hull, Canada
B.R. KYLE
Facilities Life-cycle Management, Technology, Architectural and
Engineering, Real
Property Services, Public Works and Government Services Canada,
Hull, Canada
Abstract
Initial development of the National Master Specification (NMS)
of Canada began in the late 1960's to avoid duplication by the
federal government departments involved in construction. Through
collaboration with private sector specification writing organizations
this document is now national in scope and accepted as the primary
master construction specification by the Canadian construction
industry. Canadian federal government regulations required that
all departments undertake proactive and verifiable steps towards
sustainable development. Six areas were identified as having the
greatest environmental impact and therefore the highest priorities
in the
“greening” process. The criteria used to determine the
environmentally responsible choices that have been added to the
NMS are based on consideration of life-cycle assessment and environmentally
responsible design. The communication and awareness heightening
methods used to assist in decision making, relative to the "greenness"
of available options are discussed in this paper. The paper details
the action plan implemented to integrate sustainable development
and durability principles and elaborates on the future application
of the greened NMS in the
construction practices specified by Public Works and Government
Services Canada (PWGSC).
Keywords: green specifications, national strategy, sustainability,
environmental design