These are the core of our work. A CIB Commission is a worldwide network of experts in a defined scientific area who meet regularly and who collaborate in international projects and exchange information on a voluntary basis. A Commission can be a Task Group (TG) with a limited lifetime, scope and objectives, or a Working Commission (W) with a longer-term ‘permanent’ status and a broader programme, scope and objectives.
Guidance for Commissions and their Coordinators is available towards the bottom of this page, including how to propose a new group.
The following are the active Working Commissions and Task Groups as of the start of 2024. A list of previous Commissions which have now been closed down or (in the case of Task Groups) upgraded to Working Commissions is available here.
Working Commissions
W040 – Heat and Moisture transfer in Buildings
W055 – Construction Industry Economics
W056 – Sandwich Panels (joint-CIB-ECCS Commission)
W062 – Water Supply and Drainage
W065 – Organisation and Management of Construction
W069 – Residential Studies (previously Housing Sociology)
W070 – Facilities Management and Maintenance
W078 – Information Technology for Construction
W080 – Prediction of Service Life of Building Materials and Components
W083 – Roofing Materials and Systems (also RILEM RMS)
W086 – Building Pathology
W089 – Education in the Built Environment (previously Building Research and Education)
W092 – Procurement Systems
W096 – Architectural Design and Management
W098 – Intelligent and Responsive Buildings
W099 – Safety Health & Wellbeing in Construction
W101 – Spatial Planning and Infrastructure Development
W102 – Information and Knowledge Management in Building
W104 – Open Building Implementation
W107 – Construction in Developing Countries
W110 – Informal Settlements and Affordable Housing
W111 – Usability of Workplaces
W112 – Culture in Construction
W113 – Law and Dispute Resolution
W115 – Construction Materials Stewardship
W116 – Smart and Sustainable Built Environments
W117 – Performance Measurement in Construction
W118 – Clients and Users in Construction
W119 – Customised Industrial Construction
W120 – Disasters and the Built Environment
W121 – Offsite Construction
W122 – Public Private Partnership
W123 – People in Construction
Task Groups
TG81 – Global Construction Data
TG96 – Accelerating Innovation in Construction
TG97 – Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Resilient Buildings and Communities
TG124 – Net Zero Carbon Building Design and Construction Practices
TG125 – Creating An Inclusive Built Environment for Diverse Users’ Needs
Guidance for Commissions and Coordinators
The scope, objectives and work programme of each Commission are defined by its members and officially approved by the CIB Board at the recommendation of the CIB Programme Committee.
Some Commissions have more than one Coordinator, who are appointed by its members and by the CIB Board at the recommendation of the CIB Programme Committee.
Some Commissions have set up Working Groups to focus on specific parts of the work programme and some have established their own projects in which Commission members or their institutes collaborate.
Most Commissions have annual plenary meetings, which are organised by a CIB member organisation represented in the Commission. Certain Commissions have more frequent plenary meetings and/or additional meetings of their Working Groups, organise an international symposium, webinar conferences and workshops.
Most Commissions produce official publications featuring their output which are then distributed within the CIB community and sold externally.
A growing number of these Commissions have their own web pages, which we will seek to embed into this site in 2021 wherever possible rather than retain them as stand-alone sites. Commissions also have their own liaisons with CIB Partner Journals and Partner Organisations who cover their particular area of expertise.
Wim Bakens Award
The inaugural Dr Wim Bakens Best Coordinator Award was awarded at the 2022 World Building Congress to a Coordinator or groups of Coordinators who have made a substantial leadership contribution to impactful global collaborative research within a Working Commission or Task Group. The award will be given every 3 years at the WBC. In 2022 three Coordinators were joint recipients of the award:
- Fidelis Emuze, Coordinator W123 – People in Construction
- Billy Hare, Joint Coordinator W099 – Safety Health & Wellbeing in Construction
- Fred Sherratt, Joint Coordinator W099 – Safety Health & Wellbeing in Construction.
The criteria for the award include:
- Ability to lead, build, and integrate global partnerships
- Impact of the global collaborative outputs to a built environment research discipline
- Ability to inspire others and/or mentor the global research community
To nominate one or more Coordinator/s for this award, please complete the nomination form here: Nomination form for the Dr Wim Bakens Best Coordinator Award and then send it to the CIB secretariat.
Detailed guidance and proposal forms
CIB’s Guidelines for Commendations and Award – including the complete nomination process.