33 50 00−Hydrocarbons Utilities
Formerly titled “Fuel Distribution Utilities,” this area has been extensively updated in cooperation with representatives of the oil and gas industry. Among the changes is a new “Level 2” area for:
- hydrocarbons sources (i.e. wells and associated work results);
- transmission and distribution;
- pressure regulation;
- safety equipment;
- storage (i.e. tanks and caverns); and
- receiving/dispensing and metering equipment unique to hydrocarbons.
33 60 00−Hydronic and Steam Energy
Relatively minor revisions were made to this area.
33 70 00−Electrical
This area covers various work results related to high- and extra-high-voltage electrical utilities, including transmission and substations. Moderate revisions were made to the numbers and titles in this area.
33 80 00−Communications
This area includes various forms of communication utilities, and featured minor to moderate revisions in this edition of MasterFormat.
The Environmental Engineers Coalition
The 2016 MasterFormat revisions to Divisions 33 (as well as those made to Division 35−Waterway and Marine Construction and Division 41−Material Processing and Handling Equipment) are the culmination of a nine-year process undertaken by an ad-hoc working group dubbed the Environmental Engineers Coalition. Formed in fall 2006, it includes representatives—primarily the managers of standard specifications—of approximately 10 large engineering firms with extensive practice in the fields of environmental, water/wastewater, energy, and utilities, among many other disciplines.
The coalition has previously undertaken and completed extensive updates to MasterFormat’s Divisions 40−Process Interconnections, 43−Process Gas and Liquid Handling, Purification, and Storage Equipment, and 44−Pollution and Waste Control Equipment, as well as authoring the only new division added since 2004—Division 46−Water and Wastewater Equipment.
The 2016 MasterFormat
MasterFormat is the industry’s leading resource for organizing project manuals and specifications, construction project filing systems, construction product information (e.g. manufacturers’ catalogs), and construction cost estimates. Once it is released later this spring, the new 2016 edition can be obtained via CSI’s online bookstore at www.csinet.org. (Prices are $119 for members and $169 for non-members.) Purchasers receive the physical book, a downloadable PDF that also includes the MasterFormat Numbers and Titles edition, and a transition matrix in Microsoft Excel format. In digital form, CSI’s standards and formats are licensed for access by up to three users. (MasterFormat does not include pre-written specifications.)
Mark Kalin, FAIA, FCSI, is president of specifications writing and consulting firm Kalin Associates in Newton, Massachusetts, and the chair of CSI’s MasterFormat Maintenance Task Team. A past-chair of CSI’s Technical Committee and American Institute of Architects’ (AIA’s) MasterSpec Review Committee, he has previously served as president of both CSI’s Boston Chapter, and the Specifications Consultants in Independent Practice (SCIP). Kalin can be reached at mkalin@kalinassociates.com.
Kevin O’Beirne, PE, CSI, CCS, CCCA, is a manager of standard construction documents in the Buffalo, New York, office of Arcadis—a global engineering firm. A professional engineer licensed in New York and Pennsylvania, he is an active member and past-chair of the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee, and a member of CSI’s MasterFormat Maintenance Task Team. He can be reached at kevin.obeirne@arcadis.com.
