Canada’s next building code will incorporate climate resilience into housing and infrastructure design for the first time, a speaker told delegates at an industry conference in Toronto Wednesday.
“The next code — pending final approval, we just need a rubber stamp on this at this point — is going to be the first code in the world that enables us to build buildings for the climate they’re actually going to see,” Marianne Armstrong, director of the climate resilient built environment initiative at National Research Council Canada, says during CatIQ Connect.
The next National Building Code of Canada is expected to be published this fall. After that, provinces and territories can decide to adopt the code into regulation, which could take 18 months.
“It could take longer, because of the training associated with ensuring the industry is ready for the changes, [and] the review of those changes. There’s a lot that goes into the regulation side of things, even after the model code is published,” Armstrong says.
Looking ahead to the 2030 code, the code board has decided to form a new, official code committee on climate change adaptation, Armstrong reports. “This is huge.”
Even though the code is a set of minimum standards for new buildings at the time of construction and doesn’t deal with existing buildings, Armstong says she is “really happy that we’re seeing this focus on adaptation.”
Paul Kovacs, founder and executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR), is also excited to see an adaptation committee set up for the 2030 code. As an audience member, he asked Armstrong about what adaptation proposals are on the table for new houses.
Six adaptation task groups
Armstrong responded that task groups will examine the code’s role in each of the following areas: wildfire, flooding, permafrost melts, extreme wind, overheating, and durability.
For the 2025 National Building Code of Canada, it took nine years to incorporate the climate resilience measures. The Canada Green Building Council reports the federal code includes changes such as operational greenhouse gas emission targets and integration of future-oriented climate data.
Looking ahead to the next code, Armstrong says, “If you’re not in the door now, you’re not going to see anything for 2030.”
Gary Martin, panel moderator and research associate at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business, asked Armstrong to explain the code change process and why it takes so long at the national level.
Armstrong says it all starts with a code change request, which anyone can make. Then it has to be considered within the priorities of the code system.
“Those priorities are set at the start of the code cycle,” she says. “You need to be in there, I would say, like six years before that code is published.
“For 2030, all the code requests are in, and all the priorities are set. You’re not going to affect change from now through 2030 unless there’s something urgent for health and safety…
“Ultimately, you have to get in that lineup to get considered,” she says. “And if your code request is not seen as one of those high-priority items, it might not get considered for that code cycle or the next code cycle. In some cases, they can sit there for a decade without committee.”
A code change is then considered by the committee, possibly adjusted, and then goes out for public review. In the last code cycle, there were about 300 proposed changes, Armstrong adds. “So, it might be slow, but they’re doing a lot of things.”
Feature image by iStock.com/BrianAJackson
