After two years of active industry commentary and feedback, separate plumbing and HVAC divisions will be listed under the Facility Services Subgroup of the final 2004 MasterFormat.

A Construction Specification Institute Task Force has been working to develop a revised and expanded version of the MasterFormat, the most widely used formatting standard that provides the organizational framework for the written instructions on construction of commercial buildings.

In October 2002, CSI released a draft which proposed two new divisions; Division 34 for Plumbing, and Division 35 for HVAC. SMACNA fully supported this separation of the wet side from the dry side.

Under heavy lobbying, a third draft was issued in February 2003 that completely eliminated the SMACNA-supported separation of plumbing and HVAC, and placed all HVAC work under a new mechanical division.

At its last meeting on Nov. 15, the CSI Task Force approved a motion to break up the scope of the mechanical division into separate plumbing and HVAC divisions--in effect returning to its earlier SMACNA-supported draft. The task team will continue refining this fourth and final draft through the remainder of 2003 and the early part of 2004. MasterFormat 04 is anticipated to be available to the public in late 2004.

During this revision process SMACNA has monitored and commented on proposed changes on behalf of the SMACNA membership. SMACNA applauds CSI’s forward-looking approach and recognizes that owners consider HVAC systems to be one of if not the most important components of the building.

SMACNA has been a long time advocate of separating the wet side from the dry side in commercial construction. This advocacy simply reflects both the realities of current and anticipated construction practices. Consistent with SMACNA ‘s position, CSI commentary accompanying the announcement of the final MasterFormat 04 draft stated that, “The majority of design professionals expressed a belief that plumbing is a separate design discipline from HVAC, with different work results often designed by different professionals and according to different standards.”

Facility Services Subgroup in the 2004 MasterFormat is divided as follows: Division 20 – Reserved for future expansion Division 21 – Fire Suppression Division 22 – Plumbing Division 23 – HVAC Division 24 – Reserved for future expansion Division 25 – Integrated Automation Division 26 – Electrical Division 27 – Communications Division 28 – Electronic Safety and Security Division 29 – Reserved for future expansion