METRIC DESIGN GUIDE
All GSA designs for renovation and new construction started after January 1, 1994, are
being done in the metric system. Most Federal agencies involved in construction have
already committed significant projects to be designed and built in metric.
Many private firms and governmental agencies involved with international construction
have provided input and feedback to the material presented here. This document was
coordinated with available private sector and professional society metric design guidance.
Whenever possible, existing guidance has simply been adopted. Where private guidance
did not exist, the most feasible direction has been developed and presented.
There are several "metric" systems in use in the world. The U.S. Government has adopted
the International System of Units, abbreviated SI, from the FrenchSystme international
d'units. SI is used by major professional and code organizations.
An objective of the development of this document has been to minimize the impact on
design firms, contractors, and product manufacturers, while still complying with the
national directive of increasing U.S. competitiveness
Due to the developmental nature of metric design in the United States, it is probable that
this document will be updated occasionally to incorporate new metric design information
and metric product manufacturers.
PBS-PQ260
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