CI/SfB ("Construction Indexing/Samarbetskommittén för Byggnadsfrågor") is a classification system used in the construction industry to organize and manage building information. It was originally developed in Sweden and introduced to the UK by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1961.
History.
The CI/SfB system was derived from the Swedish system "Samarbetskommittén för Byggnadsfrågor" (SfB) (meaning "The Cooperation Committee for Building Issues"), which was created in the 1950s. The system was designed to provide a standardized method for indexing and retrieving construction-related information.
The system was adopted internationally by CIB (Conseil Internationale du Batiment) and recommended to members institutes. The RIBA took a licence to establish an Agency for SfB in the UK and recommended its use with UDC in 1961 for architects libraries.
The CIB (Conseil Internationale du Batiment) opted for a procedure for having a different name for each Country. Some versions are:
In 1968 the RIBA published a revised version called CI/SfB (Construction Index SfB) which dropped the use of UDC and added two new tables to SfB tables 1, 2 and 3. Table 0 was roughly based on UDC and Table 4 on the CIB Master List of Properties, with additions. There was a further revision in 1976.
In the UK, it was first implemented as the "SfB/UDC Building Filing Manual" and later evolved into the CI/SfB system.
Structure.
The CI/SfB system is composed of several tables that classify different aspects of construction:
Usage.
CI/SfB is used for various purposes in the construction industry, including:
Legacy and Evolution.
Although CI/SfB has been largely replaced by more modern classification systems like Uniclass, it is still in use in some areas, particularly for product literature and historical data. The limitations of CI/SfB, such as its complexity and difficulty in computerization, led to the development of newer systems.