July 2026: New Standards Advance Building Water Systems and Smart Infrastructure

The Construction Materials and Building industry welcomes two pivotal standards published in July 2026, setting new expectations for potable water installations and the digital transformation of smart infrastructure. These standards—prEN 806-2 and ISO 37187:2026—cover advanced design requirements for drinking water systems and comprehensive guidelines for city information modelling (CIM) platforms, respectively. Professionals across engineering, compliance, and procurement must understand these updates to ensure industry-leading safety, operational excellence, and regulatory compliance.

Overview / Introduction

Construction is entering a new era. As buildings grow increasingly complex and cities adopt digital ecosystems, the role of robust international standards has never been more crucial. Whether ensuring the safety and quality of water installations or driving interoperability in digital infrastructure, compliance is both a regulatory must and a competitive differentiator.

This article provides an expert walkthrough of two critical new standards for July 2026:

• The refined design and hygiene specifications for potable water systems within buildings ( prEN 806-2)
• The international guidance for city information modelling and data sharing underpinning smart community infrastructures (ISO 37187:2026)

Industry stakeholders—including quality managers, design engineers, compliance officers, and technical directors—will glean actionable requirements, implementation strategies, and direct access to the official documents via iTeh Standards.

Detailed Standards Coverage

prEN 806-2 – Design of Potable Water Installations Inside Buildings

Specification for installations inside buildings conveying water intended for human consumption - Part 2: Design

Scope & Coverage: This revised European standard sets comprehensive requirements and recommendations for designing potable water installations in accordance with EN 806-1. It ensures that systems conveying water for human consumption are optimized for hygiene, safety, sustainability, and compliance with evolving EU directives (notably, Directive (EU) 2020/2184).

Key Requirements & Specifications:

• Types of Installations: Covers both unvented (Type A) and vented (Type B) potable water installations, supporting integration as building types and occupancy change.
• Hygiene & Water Quality: Mandates design features to prevent microbial growth, control temperatures (hot water ≥55°C, cold water ≤25°C), limit stagnation, and enable routine microbiological sampling. Highlights risk-based design (e.g., legionella prevention), detailed in maintenance plans.
• Pipework Design: Specifies requirements on pipe routing, insulation, accessibility, protection against frost/heat gain, materials selection (copper, plastics, stainless steel), and corrosion mitigation.
• System Documentation: Stipulates comprehensive design documentation, including room/system manuals, energy attributes, and maintenance schedules.
• Component Selection: Sets criteria for valves, joints, water heaters, expansion units, and leak protection, referencing a range of harmonized European standards for compatibility and safety.
• Sustainability: Emphasizes energy and material efficiency, resource conservation, and life cycle assessment (LCA), aligned with the EU's sustainability agenda.

Who Needs to Comply: Designers, installation engineers, facility managers, and any organizations (e.g., building owners, housing providers, hospitals, schools) responsible for safe potable water delivery in buildings across Europe.

Practical Implications:

• All new designs and major renovations must follow the new hygienic zoning, material compatibility, and temperature management rules.
• Updated documentation, sampling protocols, and maintenance plans are vital for audit-readiness and occupant safety.
• Alignment with digital design tools (such as BIM) is endorsed to future-proof workflows and facilitate regulatory checks.

Notable Changes from Previous Version:

• Major restructuring across all chapters for clarity and consistency
• Normative references updated to latest EU/EN harmonized standards
• Reinforced linkage with risk management and sustainable design (LCA, water/energy optimization)

Key highlights:

• Preserves water quality at all outlets through strict temperature, material, and layout protocols
• Emphasizes sustainability, digital design integration and ongoing maintenance
• Aligns design documentation with modern project delivery and compliance tools

Access the full standard:View prEN 806-2 on iTeh Standards

ISO 37187:2026 – Data Exchange & Sharing for City Information Modelling (CIM)

Smart community infrastructures — Guidance on data exchange and sharing of city information modelling platform

Scope & Coverage: This international standard provides authoritative guidance on the use, operation, and management of CIM platforms in the context of smart city construction, operation, and maintenance. Covering everything from device-level data collection to high-level analytics and secure data sharing, it supports both building and infrastructure assets across public and private stakeholders.

Key Requirements & Specifications:

• CIM Platform Architecture: Defines the layered structure (device, data, service, application, user) and supporting systems (standards/specifications, information security, operation & maintenance)
• Data Framework & Modelling: Requires support for GIS, BIM, IoT, and business data; insists on international standards for data formats, semantic models, and open APIs
• Interoperability & Scalability: Mandates open interfaces, modular expansion, plug-and-play integration, and distributed architecture for large city datasets
• Security & Data Governance: Outlines data protection, access control, versioning, and privacy by design for all CIM operations
• Functionality: Covers collection, query, visualization, simulation, analytics, development interfaces, and security management
• Evaluation & Inspection: Introduces structured inspection criteria and guidance for platform validation, performance monitoring, and stakeholder training
• Case Studies: Annex A presents practical examples of CIM platform data exchange in smart communities (e.g., traffic management, energy optimization)

Who Needs to Comply: City planners, IT teams, infrastructure designers, smart building solution providers, public authorities, and private sector operators managing or integrating with smart community platforms.

Practical Implications:

• Ensures data collected from infrastructure (transport, energy, communications) is accessible, secure, and interoperable for analytics and decision-making
• Reduces vendor lock-in and fosters innovation via open data standards and flexible APIs
• Enhances resilience and responsiveness through future-proof and scalable platform designs

Notable Aspects:

• Global scope, applicable across both developed and emerging smart city projects
• Facilitates collaboration between governments, enterprises, schools, hospitals, and citizen stakeholders
• Recommends aligning CIM management and governance with local regulatory policies and urban development priorities

Key highlights:

• Provides a complete, flexible architecture for city-scale digital infrastructure
• Elevates data interoperability and integration with existing standards (GIS, BIM, IoT)
• Prioritizes security, privacy, and open collaboration on urban data

Access the full standard:View ISO 37187:2026 on iTeh Standards

Industry Impact & Compliance

Adopting these July 2026 standards is a strategic necessity for modern organizations.

• Enhanced Safety & Quality: Stringent design rules for potable water and accountability in digital city platforms mitigate risks and enhance occupant and resident safety.
• Compliance & Risk Reduction: Early adoption minimizes exposure to regulatory penalties, legal liabilities, and reputational harm.
• Operational Efficiency: Integrated documentation and digital solutions reduce costs, boost workflow efficiency, and simplify compliance checks.
• Global Best Practices: ISO and CEN standards set the bar for technical validation, enabling consistent performance across borders and project types.
• Timelines: Most organizations undertaking new builds or major refurbishments must comply with these standards immediately for projects begun after July 2026. For ongoing projects, a transition period may apply—stakeholders should review local adoption policies.
• Risks of Non-Compliance: Non-conformant water installations risk hygiene failures and legal action. Inadequate digital infrastructure can lead to costly integration issues and siloed operations in smart city projects.

Technical Insights

Potable Water Installations – Best Practice Implementation:

1. Conduct a thorough risk assessment focused on Legionella and other microbiological hazards.
2. Integrate room and system manuals into building information models, ensuring design transparency and traceability.
3. Optimize pipe layouts for both hydraulic efficiency and hygiene—use straight, accessible routing, minimize dead legs.
4. Choose materials verified for compatibility with potable water; consider corrosion risk, insulation needs, and service life.
5. Ensure all draw-off points, valves, and maintenance access requirements are reflected in documentation.

City Information Modelling Platforms – Key Implementation Priorities:

• Deploy open, standards-based APIs and semantic data models for interoperability
• Establish robust governance for access control, versioning, and stakeholder collaboration
• Implement security-by-design, particularly in the service and application layers
• Foster iterative, modular workflows to future-proof platform investments
• Invest in staff training—refer to annexed case studies for real-world deployment insights

Testing & Certification:

• Follow prescriptive pressure, temperature, and hygiene testing methods (per EN 806-2 and related EN standards) prior to commissioning
• For CIM platforms, run staged platform validation and data integrity checks as per ISO 37187’s inspection criteria

Conclusion / Next Steps

The July 2026 updates for Construction Materials and Building standards set new benchmarks in both physical safety (potable water systems) and digital excellence (building and smart community platforms). Organizations are strongly advised to:

• Review and align internal design and engineering specifications with prEN 806-2, especially for all potable water systems
• Audit digital city infrastructure strategies and smart building platforms against ISO 37187:2026
• Update procurement, installation, and maintenance documentation to align with new requirements
• Leverage iTeh Standards for continuous updates and official document access

Stay ahead: Proactive engagement with these standards not only ensures compliance, but also drives operational value, competitive advantage, and stakeholder confidence in a rapidly evolving built environment.