The National Building Code of Canada is 60 years old this year. However, reaching the age of maturity does not mean that retirement is near. In fact, the National Building Code, and its companions the National Fire Code and the National Plumbing Code, are picking up a new head of steam, fueled by a series of changes that will make them more progressive and flexible, and help them keep abreast of international regulations and economic trends.

The new focus of the so-called national model codes is the result of a strategic planning initiative by its governing body, the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes. A number of economic realities -- increasing globalization, free trade, demands for better quality and performance, and a major shift from new construction to rehabilitation -- had created the need to make the codes more dynamic and responsive, better able to facilitate innovation. The Commission also recognized that it had to deal with criticism that the maturing codes had, along the way, become difficult to understand and apply, and had expanded their scope into areas where there may not be national consensus.

All of this led the Commission to make the pivotal decision to retool the National Building Code, the National Fire Code and the National Plumbing Code in a substantial way, one that would permit an evolutionary approach to modernization. In this new approach, using what are called "objective-based codes," the value and knowledge equity in the current codes would be preserved, but mechanisms for more effective and rapid evolution would be put in place.

The first step in the restructuring was to carry out an exhaustive review of all provisions in the three codes. The specific intent of each provision and the overall code objective(s) (health, safety, accessibility) to which it is related were identified. As well, detailed application statements were developed to clarify just how the provision is applied when using the code. All of this analysis is stored in a large "Intents Database" that will be made available to code users.

This year, the Commission, in partnership with the provinces and territories, is consulting with construction practitioners and other code users to confirm that its analysis of the objectives of the codes is correct and to seek comment on the proposed objective-based structure.

Planned for 2002 is the actual conversion of the three codes to the objective-based structure. These draft documents will then be released for public review and comment. Current plans are to publish at the end of 2003.

• building codes and standards
• objective-based codes
• performance-based building codes and standards