Construction industry acronyms - A
This article presents a list of construction industry acronyms beginning with 'A'.
For acronyms beginning with other letters, click on the list below.
A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
[edit] A
A - Area
A2A - Air-To-Air
A2W - Air-To-Water
AA - Alkali-Activated (binders)
AA - annual average
AABC - Architects Accredited in Building Conservation
AACO - Association of Architectural Conservation Officers
AADT - Annual Average Daily Traffic
AAP - Area Action Plan
AAR - Alkali-Aggregate Reaction
AAR - Annual Average Rainfall
AAV - Air Admittance Valve (sometimes referred to as a Durgo valve)
AAWT - annual average weekday traffic
AB - Accreditation body
AB - Acoustic Brace
AB - Airbrick
AB - Alarm Bell
AB - Anchor Bolt
AB - As Built
ABC - Above Ceiling
ABC - Activity-Based Costing
ABE - Association of Building Engineers
ABI - The Association of British Insurers
ABR - Alternative Bars Reversed
ABS - Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
ABSVD- Applicable Balancing Services Volume Data
AC - Air Conditioning
AC - Alternating Current.
AC - Annual Cost.
AC - Appeal Case
AC - Asbestos cement
ACA - Archaeological Character Area
ACA - Association of Consultant Architects
ACA 3 - Form of Building Agreement
ACAS - Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
ACASFA - Association of Consultant Architects Standard Form of Agreement CA - Conditions of Appointment
ACD - Accredited Construction Detail
ACE - Association for Consultancy and Engineering
ACFM - Alternating Current Field Measurement
ACM - Aluminium Composite Material
ACM - Asbestos Containing Material
ACM - Asbestos Containing Materials
ACM PE - Aluminium Composite Material with an unmodified polyethylene core, or ACM category 3.
ACO - Architectural Conservation Officer
ACOP - Approved Code of Practice
ACS - Average Cold Spell
ACSM - Alternating Current Stress Measurement
ACT - Action Counters Terrorism
ACT - Advanced Curtain Walling Technology
ACU - Association of Commonwealth Universities
ACV - Alternative Contract Value
ACV - Asset of Community Value
ACWP - Actual Cost of Work Performed
AD - Anaerobic Digestion
AD - Anno Domini
AD - Approved Document
AD - Aspirated Detector
ADA - Association of Drainage Authorities
ADCAC - Approval of Details (relating to CAC)
ADF - Accidental Dwelling Fires
ADFULL - Approval of Details (relating to FULL)
ADH - Adhesive
ADLBC - Approval of Details (relating to LBC)
ADM - Automated Deposit Machine
ADMS - Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling System
ADMS - Advanced Distribution Management System
ADQ - Actual Digital Questions
ADR - Alternative Dispute Resolution
ADS - Archaeology Data Service
ADV - Advert Application
ADViCE - AI for Decarbonisation’s Virtual Centre of Excellence
AEA - Allowed Enforcement Appeal
AEC - Annual Equivalent Cost.
AEC - Architectural, Engineering and Construction
AECB - Association for Environment Conscious Building
AECO - Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operation
AECOO - Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner and Operator
AED - Automated external defibrillator
AEDET - Achieving Excellence in Design Evaluation Toolkit (healthcare buildings)
AEP - Annual Exceedance Probability
AES - Afflux Estimation System
AET - Acoustic Emission Testing
AEV - Annual Equivalent Value.
AFDD - Arc Fault Detection Device
AFF - Above Finished Floor
AFFL - Above Finished Floor Level
AFL - Agreement For Lease
AFOLU - Agriculture Forestry and Other Land Use
AFP - Active Fire Protection
AGI - Artificial General Intelligence
AGR - Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor.
AHA - Agricultural Holdings Act
AHAM - Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers
AHERA - Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act
AHJ - Authority Having Jurisdiction
AHP - Analytic hierarchy process
AHU - Air Handling Unit
AHVLA - Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency
AI - Analogue Input
AI - Approved Inspector
AIA - Asbestos International Association
AIAA - American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIB - Asbestos Insulation Board
AIL - Abnormal Indivisible Load
AIM - Architectural Information Model
AIM - Asset Information Model
AIOSH - Associate of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health
AIR - Asset Information Requirements.
ALARP - As Low As Reasonably Practicable
ALB - Arm's Length Body
ALC - Agricultural Land Classification
ALC - Alliance Contract
ALG - Association of London Government
ALGAO - Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers
ALGE - Association of Local Government Ecologists
ALM - Alarm
ALO - Architectural Liaison Officer
ALOS - Average Length of Stay
ALR - All Lane Running (ALR) motorways
ALUM - Aluminium
AM - Additive Manufacturing (3D printing)
AM - Asset Management
AMF - Above Main Floor
AMF - Automatic Mains Failure (detection)
AMIN - Annual Minium Flow
AMN - All Measures Necessary
AMP - Asbestos Management Plan
AMP5 - Asset management plan for the 5-year period 2010-2015
AMR - Advanced Modular Reactor
AMS - Ancient Monuments Society
AMT - Automatic Monitoring and Targeting
ANB - Adjudicator Nominating Body
ANC - Association of Noise Consultants
ANN - Artificial Neural Network
ANOD - Anodised
ANP - Analytic Network Process
ANSI - American National Standards Institute
AO - Analogue Output
AOB - Any Other Business
AoC - Attestation of Conformity
AOCTs - Associated Overseas Countries and Territories
AOD - Above Ordnance Datum
AOD - Aerosol Optical Depth.
AoE - Audio over Ethernet
AOM - Asset Optioneering Model
AONB - area of outstanding natural beauty
AoS - appraisal of sustainability
AOUpw - Artificial Ocean Upwelling
AOUSD - Alliance for OpenUSD
AoV - Angle of View
AOV - Automatic Opening Vent
AP - Accredited Professional (BREEAM)
AP - Additional Provision
AP130 - 30-day antecedent precipitation index
APAD - Application for Prior Approval to Demolish
APC - Aminopolycarboxylate
APC - Assessment of Professional Competence
APD - Air pressure drop
APE - Association of Planning Engineers
APF - Assigned Protection Factor
APF - Assured Performance Framework
APHA - Animal And Plant Health Agency
APHO - Association Of Public Health Observatories
API - Air Pollution Index
API - Antecedent Precipitation Index
API - Application Programming Interface
APPG - All Party Parliamentary Group
APQP - Advanced Product Quality Planning
APS - Association of Planning Supervisors
APUDG - All Party Urban Development Group
APX - Approx.
AQAP - air quality action plan
AQMA - air quality management area
AQMP - Air Quality Management Plan
AQP - Academically Qualified Person
AQS - Air Quality Strategy
AR - Assessment Report
AR - Allocation Round
aR - Assisted reality
AR - Atmospheric River
ARB - Architects Registration Board
ARC - Alarm Receiving Centre
ARCA - Asbestos Removal Contractors Association
ARL - Asset Remaining Life
ARP - Adaptation Reporting Power
ARPT - Annual Residential Property Tax
ARS - Average Risk Score
AS - AcouStud
AS - Aspirated Detector
AS - Audio Speaker
ASA - Alternative site assessment
ASBA - Association of Self-Build Architects
ASBU - Advanced Social Building Unit
ASC - Above Suspended Ceiling
ASC - Adaptation Sub
ASC - Asset support contractor
ASD - Allowable Strength Design
ASD - Aspirated Detector
ASFP - Association for Specialist Fire Protection
ASHCB - Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings
ASHP - Air Source Heat Pump
ASHRAE - American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers
ASI - Architect and Surveying Institute
ASL - advanced stop line
ASLIC - Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations
ASLV - Area Of Special Landscape Value
ASME - American Society of Mechanical Engineers
ASP - Application service provider
ASR - Aquifer storage and recovery
AST - Assured Shorthold Tenancy.
ASTI - Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment
ASTM - ASTM International (originally American Society for Testing and Materials).
AStSWF - area susceptible to surface water flooding
ASZ - Archaeological Sub
ASZ - archaeological sub-zone
ATC - Assessment of Technical Competence
ATC - Automatic Temperature Control
ATC - automatic traffic count
ATE - Actual Time Expended
ATH - Aluminium Trihydrate
ATO - accumulated temperature above 0°C
ATP - Acceptance Test Protocol/Acceptance To Proceed/Authority to Proceed
ATP - Adenosine Triphosphate
ATS - Aerobic Treatment System
ATS - Automatic Transfer Switch
ATT - Advanced Thermal Treatments
AURN - Automatic Urban and Rural Network
AMR - Automatic Meter Read
Available Supply Capacity (ASC)
Authorised Supply Capacity (ASC)
AVCL - Air and Vapour Control Layer
AVCP - Assessment and Verification of Constancy of Performance
AVH - AV Hub
AVS - Automated vendor selection
AWC - available water capacity
AWI - Ancient Woodland Inventory
AWIS - Ancient Woodland Inventory Site
AWS - Automatic warning system
Featured articles
Check out some of the best features and news from Designing Buildings as well as key stories from around the web.
Code of Practice for Electrical Energy Storage Systems.
ECA calls on members to comment on draft 4th edition.
Bringing together expertise and creating cultural benefits.
CIOB celebrates positive Ofsted report.
The Building Safety Regulator announces a call for evidence.
Government approach could undermine delivery and regeneration.
World's first mass timber data centre.
The overlooked environmental aspect of data centre development.
Introduction to radon awareness
New technical information sheet published by CIOB.
Updated supplier guide can help electrical contractors engage with NHP.
CIAT confirm the winners of the 2026 architectural technology awards.
Government launches a one stop shop for flood preparedness.
Sir Edwin Lutyens: Britain's greatest architect? Book review.
CIOB publishes free template to help assess and manage risks.
Comments