National vs. Provincial Building Codes
Chris Wein, Our COO and President of Construction, joined other industry experts at the ULI Toronto panel to discuss the plight of Toronto’s housing. In the event, Chris asked the question, “How can the federal government make changes that could help me as a developer do a better job and deliver more housing?” He had one answer: Eliminate provincial building codes and adopt a standardized national one.
His response was met with a round of applause which is not surprising considering many real estate professionals agree with his sentiment. This goes beyond affecting just builders, as Chris mentions, having provincial building codes means architects, designers, construction workers, consultants, and engineers cannot easily transition their expertise from one province to another. Changing vocational locations often causes even the most esteemed professionals to have to “start over” as stakeholders now have to assess the risks associated with any unfamiliarities with the province’s construction requirements.?
But do we really not have a standardized building code? The answer to this question is at once simple yet convoluted. The National Building Code of Canada (NBC) was amended in 2020 and was developed by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes, and published by the National Research Council of Canada (Ontario.ca, 2023). The NBC sets out technical requirements involving the design, construction, alteration, and demolition of new and existing buildings (Dreessen, 2023). However, the model code holds no legal status unless it is adopted by a regulatory body (Government of Canada, 2021).?
Even when adopted, the NBC only outlines the minimum requirements and provincial jurisdictions have their own set of building codes. Unfortunately, this has caused an imbalance between what is deemed as appropriate building mandates from province to province. For example, the NBC was published in March 2022 even though it was amended in 2020. Within that two-year gap, new areas of concern have arisen (Dreessen, 2023). This, compounded with the additional time it takes for each province to adopt the NBC means that there is a severe lag in implementations, which, in turn, diminishes the NBC’s efficacy.
Toon Dreessen, president of Architects DCA and previous president of the Ontario Association of Architects, explains that the confusion of national vs provincial codes is much more complicated than just approval times. He notes that the NBC and OBC (Ontario Building Code) are estranged in their messaging. Amongst many concerns, the OBC has specific renovation requirements that the NBC does not. Additionally, “Canada’s building codes see little or no difference between seven-storey and 70-storey buildings.” (Dreessen, 2023) This is concerning when one starts to wonder about escape routes from a building on fire. It doesn’t take much to understand that exiting a seven-story building safely is very different from that of a high-rise.?
In many ways, the NBC is ineffective because of its legal limitations and the ability for provincial building codes to override the NBC. Why do we have provincial codes that override the NBC in a country of only 40 million people? Why is there such a variation when the weather is relatively the same across Canada? Why do we prevent the mobility of our professionals with an archaic system of rules? To fix the housing crisis and establish factory housing, we must get rid of the disharmonious two-code system and adopt an updated and comprehensive National building code. As Chris poignantly says, “We need to start behaving like a country and not as a series of individual stakeholders.”?
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To find out more about what Chris and fellow guest panellists, Alex Bozikovic (Architecture critic), Lucie Andlauer (CEO of Subterra Renewables), and Naama Blonder (Architect, Urban Designer, Urban Planner) have to say, check out the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-QO3_ZKGg
Have an opinion of your own? Sound off in the comments!?
Sources:
Building Code Consultant
11 个月We are about to see how closely Ontario harmonizes with the NBC. There are some issues with the NBC and as Paul noted, Ontario is ahead of the national standard in a number of areas. Unfortunately, Ontario's voice at the national level is somewhat muted which is a shame given that our province builds a major share of the new development in Canada.
President of RESCON - Strategist with Board Leadership Expertise
12 个月There are a number of elements in the National Code which are seriously problematic. One code makes sense were that not the situation.
Chief Executive Officer at Subterra Renewables | Ottawa Senators Fan
1 年Great job Chris