Engineering offices can feel like alphabet soup with all the acronyms tossed around! At Allester Engineering, we love efficiency – not just in our designs but also in how we communicate. Here’s a handy guide to some acronyms you’re likely to hear when collaborating with us.

The Building Blocks

• SIPs: Short for Structural Insulated Panels, these are high-performance, pre-fabricated building components that combine insulation and structural framing in one neat package.
• ICF: That’s Insulated Concrete Forms, made with rigid thermal insulation, which helps create strong, energy-efficient foundations and walls.
• EWP: Engineered Wood Products are a group of building materials manufactured by combining particles, fibers, or veneers with adhesives to form a composite wood material; some examples would be those trusty LVLs (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and glulams. 
• CLT: Stands for Cross-Laminated Timber, a type of mass timber, a large-scale, light-weight, strong, sustainable and versatile material making waves in modern construction.
• HSS: Refers to Hollow Structural Sections. They can be round or square and are typically used as columns because they support greater loads than wood. They are also commonly used in situations where torsional (twisting) resistance is required.

The Paper Trail

• COI: A Certificate of Insurance, a document provided at the request of the Jurisdictions.
• B: Schedule B is an official document, required by the local authorities, that guarantees the Engineer of Record will be conducting inspections during the construction phase and ensures our portion of your project meets current and local code. This document is required to obtain your Building Permit. 
• CB: The Schedule CB (closes out the Schedule B) is issued to the local authority. Once we have conducted all of our inspections/field reviews and are able to sign off that the project has been constructed to code and our drawings, we would issue a CB to the authority having jurisdiction.
• BP: Building Permit, once all documents have been reviewed and approved by the JHA, the client will receive their Building Permit.
• IFPP: Issued for Permitting Purposes, the phase where the structural drawings are complete enough to be submitted for BP by the client to the AHJ (see below for the definition of AHJ).
• IFT: Issue for Tender, referring to a drawing set used to seek bids on your project.
• IFC: Stands for Issue for Construction, the drawings that give your project the green light.
• DWG: The drawing file format you’ll find in AutoCAD – our bread and butter for design work.

The People Behind the Projects

• P. ENG: A Professional Engineer, the experts who oversee and seal your designs, and are registered members with Engineers and Geoscientists BC.
• EIT: An Engineer in Training, the future of our profession working under the guidance of a P. Eng.
• EOR: The Engineer of Record, who takes responsibility for your project’s structural integrity.
• DFT: A shoutout to our Drafters, the detail-oriented pros turning concepts into reality.
• ARCH: Short for Architect, because architects love a sleek abbreviation too.
• CRP: A Coordinating Registered Professional, someone responsible for coordinating all of the professionals attached to the project. Must be either a registered Architect or a P.Eng.
• AHJ: The Authority Having Jurisdiction is the local municipality that the client will be submitting their building permit application to, in order to obtain their Building Permit.

Next time you’re in a meeting or reviewing a project with us, keep this cheat sheet handy – you’ll be speaking fluent “Allester” in no time! Have a favourite engineering acronym we missed? Let us know!

By Emmy Chow