New ICC-ES acceptance criteria for enclosed booths addresses growth in offsite construction

During the ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) Evaluation Committee hearings held on Oct. 6, 2020, the committee approved the new ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria for Enclosed Booths for Installation Inside New and Existing Buildings (AC519).  Acceptance criteria are developed by ICC-ES technical staff in consultation with the report applicant and with input from interested parties. New criteria and revisions to criteria are approved by the Evaluation Committee (made up entirely of code officials) during open public hearings or, in selected instances, through an alternate process that involves the solicitation of public comment.

The scope of AC519 covers enclosed booths for installation inside new and existing buildings. Construction trends show that the modular building industry has grown dramatically in the United States and abroad. Many contractors are now using some form of offsite construction methods, including pods, booths and private spaces within buildings.

“Framery is the pioneer for the office pods and enclosed booths industry. We have seen the growing need for clarification on IBC and local variants of building code related to our products throughout the United States,” said Timo Inkinen, head of product development and quality at Framery. “Because local jurisdictions started to request ICC-ES evaluation of our products, we have been working with ICC-ES to create approval criteria to help local jurisdictions and clients on requirements for these types of products. The end result is AC519, which describes all relevant parts of the IBC and gives great guidance on enclosed booths requirements. I would like to thank ICC-ES for the process and their expertise on getting this criteria completed.“

For questions or more information on developing acceptance criteria for building products, please contact ICC-ES at 800-423-6587 or es@icc-es.org.