The future of design standards – has simplification become unaffordable?

Design standards play a fundamental role in the construction sector, impacting the activities of civil and structural engineers around the world. Against a backdrop of increasing length and complexity, over the years there have been many calls for design standards to be simplified. Using the evolution of the structural Eurocodes as an exemplar, which the presenter has led for the past decade as Chair of CEN/TC 250, the root causes for the changing character of design standards is examined and the potential risks and consequences of a misdirected drive for simplification is explored. Recommendations to mitigate these risks and enable user-orientated standards to be developed is presented drawing upon the CEN/TC 250 focus on enhancing ease of use, fib Model Code 2020 level of approximation approach and the future digital development and consumption of design standards