How NRM2 Replaced SMM7 in 2013 (and Why Some Contracts Still Use Both)

NRM2, the RICS New Rules of Measurement 2: Detailed Measurement for Building Works, replaced SMM7 as the UK standard for detailed building measurement. It was published in 2012, became operative on 1 January 2013, and SMM7 was formally withdrawn on 1 July 2013. NRM2 became the default for new building work, but contracts and frameworks are long-lived, so legacy documents still reference SMM7 and estimators occasionally work across both. This post covers what changed at the transition, what the NRM suite is, and how to handle a project that references both methods.

If you are new to bills of quantities, start with a civil engineering Bill of Quantities; for where the old method survives today, see where SMM7 is still used in 2026; and for how NRM2 sits against the civils method, see NRM2 vs CESMM4.

The 2013 transition

RICS introduced the New Rules of Measurement as a suite, of which NRM2 is the detailed-measurement member. The aim was a measurement framework aligned across the whole cost-management lifecycle, from early estimating through detailed bills to maintenance, rather than a single isolated method-of-measurement document. NRM2 superseded SMM7 for the detailed measurement of building works on a fixed timetable:

It is worth being precise about scope. NRM2 replaced SMM7, the building method. It did not replace CESMM, the civil engineering method. Civil engineering measurement continued under CESMM (now CESMM4) and, for highways, MMHW. The 2013 transition is a building-side story; it changed nothing on the civils side.

The NRM suite: NRM1, NRM2, NRM3

NRM2 is one of three documents:

The point of the suite is continuity: the same family of rules carries a project from an order-of-cost estimate (NRM1), through a detailed bill (NRM2), to whole-life maintenance planning (NRM3). SMM7 was a measurement document on its own; NRM2 is part of a lifecycle.

What changed for measurement

NRM2 was not a renumbering of SMM7. The substantive changes an estimator notices:

• Reorganised work sections. The structure and grouping of measured work changed, so an item's location in the document moved.
• Different deemed-included rules. What is bundled into a unit rate versus measured separately shifted. An item included in an SMM7 rate may be a separate measured item under NRM2, and the reverse.
• A more explicitly rules-based approach. NRM2 set out its measurement rules and its treatment of items such as preliminaries, risk, and contractor design more formally.

The practical consequence: a rate carried across from SMM7 to NRM2, or back, without checking can be wrong, because the two methods do not deem the same incidental work into the rate. The quantity for a given item is usually identical; what differs is the coding, the description conventions, and what the rate is expected to cover.

You can see it on a single item. Below is the foundation excavation for the default CivilQuants manhole, a 1500 mm internal-diameter chamber at 3.5 m invert depth, excavated open-batter with working space, rendered to both methods. The quantities are real engine output, generated for this article. Treat them as a modelled example for illustration, not a tender; every number is reproducible from the same geometry.

Same dig, same 105.54 m³, two reference systems. SMM7 files it under work section D20 with the commencing level stated in the description; NRM2 files it under its numbered work section 5 with a leaner description. An estimator pricing across the two needs to know which incidentals each method deems into that rate, because the descriptions will not tell them.

Why it still matters in 2026

Thirteen years on, you can still meet both methods on the same desk:

• Legacy documents. A scheme let before 2013 stays on SMM7 for its life, including variations and remeasures.
• Frameworks set up pre-2013. Some carried their measurement basis forward into call-offs made after the change.
• Partial or copied references. A bill assembled from an old template can quote SMM7 while the project around it runs to current practice. A mixed pack can reference SMM7 in one section and NRM2 in another.

When a project references both, measure each element to the standard its own documents specify, and do not unify them on your own initiative. If the structural bill is SMM7 and a later addendum is NRM2, price each to its stated method; the deemed-included rules differ, so merging them silently mis-states cost. Flag the inconsistency to the client or PQS early, in writing, so the basis is agreed before tender rather than argued at valuation.

Where civils sits

The whole transition is building-side. On civil engineering work you remain on CESMM4, or MMHW for highways, regardless of what happened between SMM7 and NRM2. The boundary becomes relevant on developer or mixed schemes, where the building elements are measured to the building method and the infrastructure and external works to the civil one. On a mixed job, expect to read two or three preambles and measure each scope to its own method. For the side-by-side comparison of the building and civils methods, see NRM2 vs CESMM4.

FAQ

When did NRM2 replace SMM7? NRM2 was published in 2012, became operative on 1 January 2013, and SMM7 was formally withdrawn on 1 July 2013.

Did NRM2 replace CESMM? No. NRM2 replaced SMM7, the building method. Civil engineering measurement continued under CESMM (now CESMM4), and highways under MMHW.

What is the NRM suite? Three RICS documents: NRM1 (order of cost estimating and cost planning for capital building works), NRM2 (detailed measurement for building works, the one that replaced SMM7), and NRM3 (the maintenance equivalent).

What is the main difference between SMM7 and NRM2? NRM2 reorganised the work sections, changed what is deemed included in rates, and is more explicitly rules-based, including its handling of preliminaries and risk. It is also part of a lifecycle suite rather than a standalone method.

Why do some contracts still reference SMM7? Because contracts and frameworks are long-lived. Schemes let before 2013, pre-2013 frameworks, and copied bill templates still carry SMM7 references.

Which standard should a new building project use? NRM2, the current RICS standard for detailed building measurement. A new civil engineering project uses CESMM4, or MMHW for highways.

Try it

Work across NRM2, SMM7, CESMM4 and MMHW from one tool: the same geometry renders to whichever method the contract specifies. Start a 7-day pass for £15, or try a free assembly to MMHW with no sign-up, then build the worked manhole on the manhole calculator.