Masonry Magazine April 1994 Page. 16
METRICATION IN THE MASONRY INDUSTRY
By CHRISTINE A. SUBASIC
Staff Engineer, Brick Institute of America
Metrication is here. Driven by the federal government work, state and city governments are increasingly using metric as well.
Metrication in the construction industry is not new. Those firms involved on overseas projects have used the International System of Measurement, SI, for years. And most people recall the push in the 1970s to metric. So why get excited this time? Nothing much ever came of the 1970s movement, right? Well, there is a difference this time.
The 1991 Executive order 12770 mandated the use of metric in all federal activities, including construction. No longer a voluntary conversion, a federal council on metrication was formed: the Metrication Operating Committee. One of the most active subcommittees was the Construction Subcommittee.
The Construction Subcommittee began as a council of representatives from various agencies who discussed their plans to meet the mandated policy deadline of January 1994. As the council grew to include representatives from private industry, the council organization was transferred to the National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) as the Construction Metrication Council.
Under NIBS, the Construction Metrication Council has continued to provide an arena for information exchange. Perhaps the most valuable service provided is the formation of committees concerned with elements of construction with representatives from industry.
Two examples are the Mechanical Task Group which developed recommendations for nominal metric pipe sizes, and the Electrical Task Group which is working on metric nomenclature for metallic and non-metallic conduit.
The Construction Metrication Council also reports the construction activities of the federal agencies. The Government Service Agency (GSA) has led the way in the conversion to metric. From pilot projects in 1992 to development of a metric guide specification to complete conversion of all construction activities by October 1, 1993, GSA has demonstrated how buildings can be designed, specified and built using metric.
Other agencies are converting as well. The Federal Highway Administration, for example, has begun designing metric projects in anticipation of their September 1996 deadline for conversion of all construction projects. The Council predicts that by the late 1990's, the entire federal construction market of $40-billion will be using metric.
Private Industry
The construction industry is moving toward the use of metric as well. Most professional organizations have developed policies supporting the use of metric in their own publications and technical journals and by their members. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) are examples of organizations supporting the conversion to metric. Researchers submitting a paper or article to the journal of these societies are required to provide metric units.
The use of metric is also required in all proposals and reports for those working on federally funded projects. Many professional societies' news publications now contain editorials, regular columns or special issues featuring relevant topics and status reports on metrication. ASCE News' Metrication News column is an example.
Professional organizations have also developed standards, design manuals and design aids in metric units. For example, the American Concrete Institute publishes the metric standard, the ACI 318M Building Code Requirements for Reinforced Concrete. The AISC plans to publish