National Building Code of Canada
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The National Building Code of Canada is the model building code of Canada. It is issued by the Institute for Research In Construction (IRC), a part of the National Research Council of Canada. As a model code, it has no legal status until it is adopted by a jurisdiction that regulates construction.
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[edit] History
The Constitution of Canada includes the regulation of building construction as a provincial responsibility. In a few cases municipalities have been given the historic right of writing their own building code. In the early years of regulating building construction this caused a patchwork of building codes across Canada.
In 1941 the federal government of Canada published the first National Building Code. This was slowly adopted by the various provinces and municipalities in Canada during the next 20 years.
Since 1960 there has been a revised document about every five years up to 1995. The 2000 edition of the building code was supposed to be an objective or performance-based building. However, this took considerably longer to write than foreseen and the next edition of the National Building Code of Canada was not published until 2005.
[edit] Implementation
The National Building Code is the model building code that forms the basis for all of the provincial building codes except Ontario's[1]. Prince Edward Island[2], Nova Scotia[3], and Newfoundland and Labrador[4] have legislation enforcing the current version of the National Building Code of Canada, while Manitoba[5] and British Colombia[6] have adopted the 2005 National Building Code as regulations under provincial acts. The building codes of Alberta, Quebec[7] and Saskatchewan[8] are based on the 1995 National Building Code. A new version of the Alberta Building Code based on the 2005 National Building Code is expected soon [9].
[edit] Content
The 1995 National Building Code is split into 9 parts.
- Part 1 Scope and Definitions
- Part 2 General Requirements
- Part 3 Fire Protection, Occupant Safety and Accessibility
- Part 4 Structural Design
- Part 5 Environmental Separation
- Part 6 Heating, Ventilating and Air-conditioning
- Part 7 Plumbing Services
- Part 8 Safety Measures at Construction and Demolition Sites
- Part 9 Housing and Small Buildings
Part 1 gives the definitions and describes how the building code is applied. Houses and certain other small buildings (less than 3 storeys high and 600m2) are considered "Part 9 Buildings" and only parts 1, 2 and 9 apply. Larger buildings are considered "Part 3 buildings" and parts 1 through 8 apply. Part 3 is the largest and most complicated part of the building code. It is intended to be used by engineers and architects. Part 9 is very prescriptive and is intended to be able to be applied by contractors.
The building code also references hundreds of other construction documents that legally incorporated by reference and thus part of the enforceable code. This includes many design, material testing, installation and commissioning documents that are produced by a number of private organizations. Most prominent among these are the Canadian Electrical Code, Underwriters Laboratories' of Canada (ULC), a subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories, documents on fire alarm design, and a number of National Fire Protection Association documents.
