January 22, 2007

Industry welcomes changes

Peter Mitham

correspondent

Representatives of industry groups are welcoming the latest version of the B.C. Building Code, though they acknowledge the transition to the new objective-based approach will take time.

“This is new but this isn’t something we’ve been grousing about,” said Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association. “We’ve been warning our members. We had ample opportunity to consult through the whole process, and now that it’s here, as of December 15, we just have to do it and deal with it.” While he said some smaller builders may have downplayed the impact it would have, larger home builders have been preparing and took steps to prepare well in advance of the code’s implementation last month. The one issue Simpson sees from the transition to the new objective-oriented code, which allows a variety of solutions to satisfy its requirements rather than prescribing solutions, is that more inspections may be required to ensure compliance. This, he said, may put a greater burden on builders and boost construction costs.

To their credit, however, the code spells out its expectations of industry, said Michael Ernest, director of professional practice with the Architectural Institute of B.C. “The crafters of the code have laid out not only the prescribed solutions which are predetermined to be accepted, but they’ve laid out what the objectives are,” Ernest said. “As long as you can come in with any solution that satisfies those objectives, which are now articulated as opposed to being unstated and perhaps mysterious to some people, those alternate solutions, being alternate to the ones that are prescribed, should be acceptable.”

The challenge is for the building authorities to figure out how to accommodate the many possible responses to the objectives. “It’s probably the single biggest challenge,” he said. “The new code enables more creativity, it enables more flexibility, but to their credit, the crafters of the code have laid out what the objectives are. ... That’s a positive step.”

Ernest added that the code doesn’t increase architects’ liability by allowing designers to come up with their own solutions to specific issues. He believes the new code has left enough room to accommodate designers while also protecting the public’s safety. “If the bar is raised inside the code, wonderful. And again, with the objective-based code, you do have opportunity to be creative as long as you can satisfy the performance criteria,” he said.

Moreover, Ernest said the responsibility to ensure any code works as intended falls on all building stakeholders, not just architects. “There’s a vigilance that’s needed across the industry,” he said.

Print | Email | Comment