The International Code Council Releases Toolkit Providing Jurisdictions with Resources to Improve Building Regulatory Compliance

Governments are increasingly recognizing the critical role building-focused policies play in achieving their resilience and sustainability goals. Building codes are an essential component to such policies, but their effective implementation requires a supporting “ecosystem” of institutions and personnel.  

To help jurisdictions around the world assess and take steps to build their institutional capacity to achieve compliance with building codes and regulations, the International Code Council (ICC) released the free, comprehensive, online interactive Building Safety Regulatory Capacity Building Toolkit. The Toolkit encourages a holistic approach to building safety, focusing on the adoption and enforcement of codes aligned with current capacity, as well as pathways to build future capacity to support the achievement of desired goals.   

What is the Building Safety Regulatory Capacity Building Toolkit?  

The Toolkit is organized around nine connected elements that support building safety through enhancing regulatory capacity. The elements offer operational support for: 

• Implementing legislation,  
• Effective building codes and standards,  
• Building department administration,  
• Practitioner competency,  
• Plan review and permitting,  
• Inspections, 
• Product compliance, 
• Testing, inspection and certification and
• Accreditation. 

The Toolkit is divided into modules – one for each element, offering a high-level explanation of its importance within the regulatory ecosystem, including how it connects to the other elements, and then providing additional resources for users to explore for practical guidance or implementation support. The Toolkit is designed to easily enable jurisdictions to focus on what they need most, whether that be facilitation of a whole-system review or strengthening one or more specific policy, regulatory or compliance issue. 

The Toolkit aligns with ICC’s global focus on capacity building, which encourages success metrics based on achieving compliance rather than on adoption of a code or standard, with recognition of adoption as a necessary first step towards safer, more resilient buildings. It is designed to be globally applicable, presenting successes and best practices from around the world as guides or replicable models to help jurisdictions to more quickly and cost-effectively address gaps they have identified in their own building safety regulatory ecosystems. 

COP 31 

The Toolkit is being presented in multiple sessions during the annual UN Climate Conference (COP31) taking place in Antalya, Türkiye from Nov. 9-20, 2026. ICC has been an active participant in the events and discussions that occur at COP since 2021, with a focus on the critical role that building codes play in achieving both resilience and mitigation. Key messages include elevating the focus on constructing resilient buildings to protect against the increasingly frequent and severe weather hazards that are being experienced around the world, and the holistic approach to building safety supported by the Toolkit.  

The Building Safety Regulatory Capacity Building Toolkit can be accessed online, here.