Highways England has recently uploaded a revision to the Design for New Pavement Construction (currently HD26/06 but to be renamed CD226) onto TRIS. This draft includes some significant changes, most notably the introduction of Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) base as an option (we hope to cover RCC in a technical article in the near future).

For those unaware of TRIS, it is a good way of keeping abreast of developments in some core highways documents like Design Manual for Roads & Bridges (DMRB) and Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MCHW) which includes the Specification for Highways Works (SHW). EU states must notify proposed changes to national regulations (including specifications) to the European Commission. The draft documents are made available for all EU member states to view with the intention of preventing barriers to trade being created. This is done through the TRIS system. On submission each document enters a ‘standstill’ period of three months. At the end of the standstill comments are reviewed and national bodies make any necessary alterations prior to publication

The TRIS system is open to everyone. The documents cover a wide range of areas so it is best if you register for automatic notifications, making sure you select ‘Construction’. To get access to all notified documents and register for updates go to https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/tris/en/. Anyone can comment on TRIS documents but note that only comments submitted formally through the TRIS system can be considered by the national body.

David Markham, Chair of the CIHT’s Standards and Specifications Advisory Group (SASAG)