S30141 Technical Standards Implementation, Governance improvements and benefit realisation

Overview

National Highways has a statutory obligation under the Technical Regulations Protocol to keep its technical standards, the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) and the Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works (MCHW) up to date. Maintaining these standards creates opportunities to improve the efficiency, safety and consistency of design, construction and maintenance activities, aligning delivery with the organisation's strategic objectives. Building on the extensive refresh programmes completed in RIS1 and RIS2, the focus in RIS3 shifts from redevelopment to effective implementation and embedment of the revised DMRB and MCHW, including the introduction of proportionate mitigation measures, strengthened governance arrangements, and supporting digital tools to ensure consistent application across the sector. The proposed task will modernise National Highways technical standards management over RIS3 and beyond. It will enable more efficient updating, faster publication, and consolidation of changes made in RIS1 and RIS2. It will support continuous digitisation, restructuring of our technical standards, enhancements of digital tools, which will make it significantly easier for technical authors to develop standards, apply the drafting rules and the overall governance framework for technical standards. Enhancements to the standard governance will include clearer more accessible author guidance. This will improve both transparency and inclusivity across the standards development lifecycle.