Lessons from development of design standards in South Africa

Structural design standards form the basis for the provision of sustainable infrastructure. Traditionally some South African concrete design standards have been based on British Standards. However, South African reference standards seized to exist with the withdrawal of British Standards BS 8110 (concrete design for buildings) and BS 8007 (concrete water retaining structures).

A revision of South African building design standards commenced with the publication of a loading code for buildings, based on the Eurocode, but adapted for South African conditions and preferences. A revised concrete code is an adopted version of the Eurocode, with modifications only in the National Annex, whilst the standard for concrete water retaining structures is an adapted version of the Eurocode, augmented with extracts from BS8007. This paper provides background to the different approaches, and describes salient aspects of the revision of these standards.