ABSTRACT
The development of a common market in the European Union and increased globalization of markets mean that specifiers have an enormous range of materials from which to choose. In the UK alone there are approximately 20 000 building product manufacturers, many of whom offer more than one product for sale (Edmonds, 1996). Manufacturers, in response to competition, new regulations and changes in architectural fashion, continually introduce new products. In addition to these new products, there are numerous minor product improvements that are constantly introduced by manufacturers to prolong their products’ life on the market. These new products and product improvements, like the established products, are dependent on decision makers in the building industry for their selection. In his book The Roots of Architectural Invention, Leatherbarrow (1993: 143) made the observation that:
Because materials are familiar in experience and unavoidable in construction one might assume this specification is a procedure that can be described simply and clearly; in fact the opposite is true, for it is both a rarely discussed procedure and one that exposes strikingly obscure and indefinite thinking when questioned. Yet this obscurity is unavoidable because material selection is inevitable.
