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.[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
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.[ 4]
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:[ 5]
CI / SfB for Great BritainSI / SfB for FranceBRD / SfB for GermanyBB / SfB for BelgiumNL / SfB for The NetherlandsIn 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.[ 6]
In the UK, it was first implemented as the "SfB/UDC Building Filing Manual" and later evolved into the CI/SfB system.[ 7]
Usage
CI/SfB is used for various purposes in the construction industry, including:
Setting up office libraries
Collecting design information
Preparing reports, cost plans, drawings, and specifications
Organizing bills of quantities and other types of construction information.[ 8]
[ 9]
Table 0: Physical Environment
Planning areas
0: Planning areas
01: Extra terrestrial areas
02: International, national scale planning areas
03: Regional, sub-regional scale planning areas
04
05: Rural, urban planning areas
06: Land use planning areas
07
08: Other planning areas
09: Common areas relevant to planning
Facilities
11: Rail transport
12: Road transport
13: Water transport
14: Air transport, other transport
15: Communications
16: Power supply, mineral supply
17: Water supply, waste disposal
18: Other
2: Industrial facilities
21–25
26: Agricultural
27: Manufacturing
28: Other
31: Official administration, law courts
32: Offices
33: Commercial
34: Trading, shops
35–36
37: Protective services
38: Other
41: Hospitals
42: Other medical
43
44: Welfare, homes
45
46: Animal wellfare
47
48: Other
5: Recreation facilities
51: Refreshment
52: Entertainment
53: Social recreation, clubs
54: Aquatic sports
55
56: Sports
57
58: Other
6: Religious facilities
61: Religious centres
62: Cathedrals
63: Churches, chapels
64: Mission halls, meeting houses
65: Temples, mosques, synagogues
66: Convents
67: Funerary, shrines
68: Other
71: Schools
72: Universities, colleges
73: Scientific
74
75: Exhibitions, display
76: Information, libraries
77
78: Other
8: Residential facilities
81: Housing
82: One-off housing units, houses
83
84: Special housing
85: Communal residential
86: Historical residential
87: Temporary, mobile residential
88: Other
91: Circulation
92: Rest, work
93: Culinary
94: Sanitary, hygiene
95: Cleaning, maintenance
96: Storage
97: Processing, plant, control
98: Other; cuildings other than function
99: Parts of facilities; other aspects of the physical environment; architecture, landscape
Table 1: Elements
(--) Sites, projects, building systems
Substructure
(1-) Ground, substructure
(10)
(11) Ground
(12)
(13) Floor beds
(14)-(15)
(16) Retaining walls, foundations
(17) Pile foundations
(18) Other substructure elements
(19) Parts of elements (11) to (18)
Cost summary
Structure
(2-) Primary elements, carcass
(20)
(21) Walls, external walls
(22) Internal walls, partitions
(23) Floors, galleries
(24) Stairs, ramps
(25)-(26)
(27) Roofs
(28) Building frames, other primary elements
(29) Parts of elements (21) to (28)
Cost summary (3-) Secondary elements, completion if described separately from (2-)
(30)
(31) Secondary elements to external walls; external doors, windows
(32) Secondary elements to internal walls; internal doors
(33) Secondary elements to floors
(34) Secondary elements to stairs
(35) Suspended ceilings
(36)
(37) Secondary elements to roofs; rooflights, etc.
(38) Other secondary elements
(39) Parts of elements (31) to (38)
Cost summary (4-) Finishes if described separately
(40)
(41) Wall finishes, external
(42) Wall finishes, internal
(43) Floor finishes
(44) Stair finishes
(45) Ceiling finishes
(46)
(47) Roof finishes
(48) Other finishes to structure
(49) Parts of elements (41) to (48)
Cost summary
Services
(5-) Services, mainly piped and ducted
(50)-(51)
(52) Waste disposal, drainage
(53) Liquids supply
(54) Gases supply
(55) Space cooling
(56) Space heating
(57) Air conditioning, ventilation
(58) Other piped, ducted services
(59) Parts of elements (51) to (58)
Cost summary (6-) Services, mainly electrical
(60)
(61) Electrical supply
(62) Power
(63) Lighting
(64) Communications
(65)
(66) Transport
(67)
(68) Security, control, other services
(69) Parts of elements (61) to (68)
Cost summary
Fittings
(7-) Fittings
(70)
(71) Circulation fittings
(72) Rest, work fittings
(73) Culinary fittings
(74) Sanitary, hygiene fittings
(75) Cleaning, maintenance fittings
(76) Storage, screening fittings
(77) Special activity fittings
(78) Other fittings
(79) Parts of elements (71) to (78)
Cost summary (8-) Loose furniture, equipment
(80)
(81) Circulation loose equipment
(82) Rest, work loose equipment
(83) Culinary loose equipment
(84) Sanitary, hygiene loose equipment
(85) Cleaning, maintenance loose equipment
(86) Storage, screening loose equipment
(87) Special activity loose equipment
(88) Other loose equipment
(89) Parts of elements (81) to (88)
Cost summary
(9-) External, other elements
(90) External works
(91)
(92)
(93)
(94)
(95)
(96)
(97)
(98) Other elements
(99) Parts of elements (91) to (98)
Cost summary
A: Construction, forms
B:
C:
D:
E: Cast in situ work
F: Block work; blocks
G: Large block, panel work; large blocks, panels
H: Section work; sections
I: Pipe work; pipes
J: Wire work, mesh work; wires, meshes
K: Quilt work, quilts
L: Flexible sheet work (proofing); flexible sheets (proofing)
M: Malleable sheet work; malleable sheets
N: Rigid sheet overlap work; rigid sheets for overlapping
P: Thick coating work
Q
R: Rigid sheet work; rigid sheets
S: Rigid tile work; rigid tiles
T: Flexible sheet work; flexible sheets
U
V: Film coating and impregnation work
W: Planting work; plants, seeds
X: Work with components; components
Y: Formless work; Products
Z: Joints
Table 3: Materials
e: Natural stone
f: Precast with binder
g: Clay (dried, fired)
h: Metal
i: Wood
j: Vegetable and animal materials
k
m: Inorganic fibres
n: Rubbers, plastics, etc.
o: Glass
p: Aggregates, loose fills
q: Lime and cement binders, mortars, concretes
r: Clay, gypsum, magnesia and plastic binders, mortars
s: Bitominous materials
t: Fixing and jointing materials
u: Protective and process/property modifying materials
v: Paints
w: Ancillary materials
x
y: Composite materials
z: Substances
Table 4: Activities and Requirements
(A) Administration and management activities, aids
(B) Construction plant, tools
(C)
(D) Construction operations
(E/G) Description
(H) Context, environment
(J/T) Performance factors
(U) Users, resources
(V) Working factors
(W) Operation, maintenance factors
(X) Change, movement, stability factors
(Y) Economic, commercial factors
(Z) Peripheral subjects; forms of presentation; time; space
References
^ "Oxford Reference - CI/SfB" .Gorse, Christopher (2013). "A Dictionary of Construction, Surveying and Civil Engineering (1 ed.)" . Oxford Reference . Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 Dec 2024 . ^ De Troyer, Allacker, Ramon, Trigaux (August 2024). "EU/SfB-plus Nederlands - Français - English - Deutsch A structure for a BIM object library and many other applications based on a hierarchical-functional definition of CI/SfB, a codification system since 1947" (PDF) . architectuur.kuleuven.be . KU Leuven, Department Architecture, Architectural Engineering. Retrieved 27 Jun 2025 . {{cite web }}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link )^ DILLON, SARWAN SINGH (1990). "ELECTRONIC GUIDE TO CONSTRUCTION INDEXING SYSTEMS" . University of Arizona . The University of Arizona. Retrieved 27 Jun 2025 . ^ Gelder, John (3 February 2012). "Classification" (PDF) . CPIC.org.uk . Retrieved 2 December 2024 . ^ Conejera, Gabriel (25 February 2019). "Sistemas de clasificación BIM / NL/SfB (Artículo 5/5) + Tabala comparativa" . BuildBIM (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 December 2024 . ^ "CI/SfB" . Designing Buildings . 22 Apr 2022. Retrieved 28 Nov 2024 .^ Chudley, Roy (2010). "CI/SfB system of coding" . TaylorFrancis.com . Taylor Francis. Retrieved 2 December 2024 . ^ "CI/SfB Construction Indexing Manual" .^ "APPENDIX 1. SfB BASIC CLASSIFICATION TABLES" . up.ac.za . University of Pretoria. Retrieved 2 June 2025 .
