Walls and Ceilings News

CSI and CSC Release MasterFormat 2014 Update

CSI and CSC today released the 2014 updates to MasterFormat, their flagship product used to organize construction documents for commercial, industrial and institutional building projects in the United States and Canada.

Several significant revisions are included in this update, among them the addition of “selective demolition” sections to most divisions of the format, providing guidance for companies and project managers who need to incorporate demolition into their plans.

“The 2014 updates to MasterFormat take into account the valuable feedback provided by its users over the past two years,” said CSI Executive Director and CEO Walter Marlowe, P.E., CSI. “We greatly appreciate their feedback as we strive to make MasterFormat the most accessible and expansive guide for the A/E/C industries.”

“These changes continue to ensure that MasterFormat reflects the current needs of its users,” said CSC President Mike Garlinski. “We are pleased that so many users take the time to supply their input, especially the members of the Hydraulic Institute who contributed to the 2014 updates.”

Additional changes in the 2014 edition include:

Renaming Division 40 from “Process Equipment” to “Process Interconnections,” and overhauling its content;
Reorganizing “Process Liquid Pumps” in Division 43, as a result of input from members of the Hydraulic Institute;
Moving “Manufactured Planters” and “Site Seating and Tables” to Division 32 to better align with other site-based work and renaming their former Division 12 location to “Interior Public Space Furnishings” to address similar types of furnishings used in indoor settings;
Revising “Equipment” in Division 11 to update, simplify and rationalize its content and organization; and
Expanding “Agreement Forms” in Section 00 52 00 to improve alignment with standard forms of agreement.

The MasterFormat Maintenance Task Team conducts a biennial revision cycle process, publishing updates to the format every two years. This committee of volunteers develops the changes to the format based on input from industry supporters and proposals from individual users that were submitted through www.masterformat.com. The Task Team is comprised of appointees from CSI, CSC, ARCAT, ARCOM, Building Systems Design Inc. (BSD), Specification Consultants in Independent Practice (SCIP), Digicon and Canadian National Master Specifications.

MasterFormat is a master list of numbers and titles classified by work results for construction practices, used to organize project manuals, detail cost information, and relate drawing notations to specifications. By fostering fuller and more detailed construction specifications, MasterFormat is designed to reduce costly changes and delays in projects due to incomplete, misplaced, or missing information.

For more information on the 2014 updates, please visit www.masterformat.com.