Month: April 2017

“Mentoring the Next Generation of Building Professionals” Is the Theme of Building Safety Month Week One

ICC Aims to Meet the Need for Trained Building Professionals with Nationwide Events and Innovative Programs

Skilled building professionals have helped keep communities safe for decades, through their constant vigilance in making sure construction adheres to the minimum safety procedures, as well as helping to craft and refine those procedures.

But the construction industry is experiencing a mass retirement of skilled professionals; one study indicates that over the next 12 years, the industry will experience a loss of 80 percent of the existing skilled workforce.

Employers are seeking qualified building trade professionals to fill the positions of retiring employees and will be vying to hire the leading men and women to reinforce their decreasing workforce. Trained professionals are needed in the building industry to prevent a major job shortage in the workforce.

“Retirements will affect building officials, fire code officials, plans examiners, permit technicians and administrative staff reviewing special inspection reports,” said International Code Council (ICC) Board of Directors President M. Dwayne Garriss, Georgia State Fire Marshal. “Engineers and architects, as well – all these noble professions, which many people may not be aware of – are all necessary to maintain our high standards for building safety.”

Working towards this goal of preserving the industry’s workforce, the International Code Council is devoting its first week of Building Safety Month (BSM) – May 1-7, 2017 – to the theme: “Mentoring the Next Generation of Building Professionals.”

In addition to learning about construction, engineering and architecture, the future workforce needs to become knowledgeable about the building codes to ensure the very best, most-resilient buildings. The Code Council and industry partners are providing training and mentoring on the latest design, technology and innovations in the codes through high schools, colleges and career training programs.

One way the Code Council is doing this is through its High School Technical Training Program (HSTTP), created to provide schools with a framework to help students understand how codes and regulations are used in the design and construction of residential, commercial, federal and military facilities.

Schools participating in the HSTTP provide students with up-to-date code knowledge and technical code training that fits hand-in-hand with practical training leading to a skilled workforce.

In addition to the HSTTP, ICC provides an array of resources and information on the theme of Mentoring the Next Generation of Building Professionals. Since 1980, Building Safety Month has been an annual public safety awareness campaign to help individuals, families and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures. Jurisdictions nationwide plan BSM events. Here are just a few:

• Celebrating the start of Building Safety Month in our nation’s capital, the Code Council, the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes and the American Society of Interior Designers will host the official Kickoff Event and Recognition Ceremony on May 1. The Leadership Roundtable on Resilience on May 2 will bring together a small group of industry thought leaders to participate in a panel focused on making resilience more transparent to consumers. And the annual Building Safety Month Rooftop Reception, hosted by ICC and sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders, will be held May 10. All three events will be held at ICC’s Washington, D.C., Governmental Affairs Office.
• The Town of North Salem in New York will host a Building Safety Month Live Event on May 6 that will feature guest speakers from ICC, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American Institute of Architects and the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority presenting on topics such as cdpACCESS, the next generation of code officials, emergency preparedness for farms and propane safety. The Alexandria Department of Code Administration is hosting a Kick-Off Event on May 5 in the City Square. Participants include many organizations representing police, fire and the Virginia Building and Code Officials Association. The City mayor and other dignitaries will join the public in the festivities.
• The Code Council will present a Building Safety Month Kickoff Event with the Birmingham Barons on May 6 in Birmingham, Ala. Several industry leaders and professional associations will be on hand to help educate the public on what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures during this one-of-a-kind experience for the entire family.
• Educational displays, demonstrations and career fairs will take place throughout California, including the Central Coast Chapter of ICC Educational Presentation on May 4 in San Luis Obispo, the Young Adults Building Safety Careers Program on May 10 in San Jose, the San Diego Department of Development Services Building Safety Month Day on May 17, and the Building & Safety Career Fair on May 24 in Glendale.
• The Code Council is holding an ICC Training & Member Forum Roadshow May 1 for ICC Members addressing popular topics of interest to California building and code professionals. This forum is the first in a series of engaging ICC Training & Member Forums designed exclusively for our Members.

From coast to coast, Building Safety Month will offer something for everyone!

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About the International Code Council

The International Code Council is a member-focused association. It is dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures. Most U.S. communities and many global markets choose the International Codes.

ICC partnership with ASHRAE, AIA, USGBC and IES means higher performing buildings will be easier to achieve

Resulting integrated document will become the 2018 version of the
International Green Construction Code

A unified green building code that could become the foundation for LEED certification was created in 2011, thanks to a partnership among ASHRAE, the International Code Council (ICC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

That effort got a boost in August 2014, when ICC and ASHRAE agreed to align the technical requirements of ASHRAE’s Standard 189.1 for High Performance Green Buildings (189.1) with ICC’s International Green Construction Code (IgCC) into one single model code.

With that agreement, and with the subsequent definition of each organization’s roles, the ASHRAE Standard 189.1 committee continued revising the standard so it could provide technical content for the IgCC, with the ICC responsible for the administrative sections and publication.

This integrated document, coined the “IgCC powered by 189.1,” will become the 2018 version of the IgCC (2018-IgCC), due to be published in summer 2018.

“The 2018-IgCC will provide the design and construction industry with the single, most effective way to deliver sustainable, resilient, high-performance buildings,” said International Code Council Board President M. Dwayne Garriss, Georgia State Fire Marshal. “The ‘IgCC-powered-by-189.1’ joint initiative framed the essential sustainable construction building blocks on which future resilient initiatives can develop and expand. We appreciate the dedication and efforts of our partners, ICC Members and all who contributed to the development of the IgCC powered by 189.1.”

By collaborating on developing the 2018-IgCC, these organizations envision a new era of building design and construction that includes environmental health and safety as code minimums. The goal of the 2018-IgCC is to provide fundamental criteria for energy efficiency, resource conservation, water safety, land use, site development, indoor environmental quality and building performance that can be adopted broadly.

With that foundation, local jurisdictions can build upon regulatory requirements by leveraging complementary leadership strategies that support and encourage the evolution of the building community. Initial steps in achieving these outcomes include publishing the 2018-IgCC, streamlining compliance for aligned strategies in LEED certification, and promoting the use and implementation of these tools.

The Integration of ASHRAE Standard 189.1 & IgCC
As a standing project committee, the ASHRAE 189.1 committee has updated the technical aspects of Standard 189.1-2014 using ASHRAE’s continuous maintenance procedures. To publish the updated version of the standard in 2017, the committee has deadlines for the many revisions being proposed so they can be included in the 2018-IgCC publication.

ASHRAE’s ANSI-approved process for these proposed changes to the standard will be wrapping up this summer, with final addenda undergoing public review now. Later this year, the final set of changes for the 2017 version of Standard 189.1 will be delivered to ICC. At that time, ICC will develop the administrative procedures for the technical content and codify the document into the 2018-IgCC.

In anticipation of this timeline, ICC did not retain the IgCC committee in 2015. Members of the ICC Sustainability, Energy & High Performance Building Code Action Committee (SEHPCAC) have, however, contributed to the 189.1 process, providing recommendations and proposals within the 189.1 process that seek to carry over provisions from the 2015 IgCC into 189.1.

These proposals, and those from other stakeholders, have resulted in several dozen changes to the 2017 version of Standard 189.1, and in these efforts, the integration of these two documents has begun to take shape. The further integration of green building strategies will continue since Standard 189.1 is on continuous maintenance, meaning the revision process is ongoing, but those further revisions will not affect the 2018-IgCC content.

USGBC Alignment with Green Codes and LEED
Since the initial announcement of the “IgCC powered by 189.1” in 2015, the USGBC has made progress on recognizing the important role of green building codes for voluntary rating systems and LEED certification.

In the summer of 2015, Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) announced a package of measures required by California’s statewide Green Building Standards Code (CALGreen) that can now be streamlined when a project seeks LEED certification. More streamlining is anticipated in California and, importantly, this breakthrough in aligning code requirements with LEED pioneered an approach that the USGBC can leverage for aligning with forthcoming versions of the IgCC.

Once the technical content of the 2018-IgCC are known (following the handoff from ASHRAE to ICC later this year), the USGBC will undertake an analysis of the measures from the model green code and compare them to LEED requirements. This process will begin while the 2018-IgCC is being codified. The USGBC and GBCI anticipate being able to communicate further progress on alignment at Greenbuild this year.

Promoting the IgCC in 2018
While the publication of the 2018-IgCC in a little over a year will be a milestone achievement, it is only the beginning. In forming the historic agreement among ASHRAE, ICC, AIA, IES and USGBC, these organizations envision a new era of design and construction where green codes become widespread.

To help realize the vision, a concerted effort will begin to actively promote the 2018 model green code with the goal of gaining wide-scale adoption. The details of this promotion are being formed now, but efforts will begin in early 2018.

Additional details of this co-promotion will be announced later this year.

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About the International Code Council
The International Code Council is a member-focused association. It is dedicated to developing model codes and standards used in the design, build and compliance process to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures. Most U.S. communities and many global markets choose the International Codes.