There is currently an effort underway to develop national model building
codes in the United States.  Presently there is a patchwork of model codes:
BOCA, Southern, etc., etc.  Individual states then can adopt the model code
of their choosing, and amend it to suit their preferences.  Most of us are
aware of the challenges that modern building codes structured for new
construction can pose for the rehabilitation of historic structures.

National codes have been completed for the plumbing, mechanical, and
electrical trades.  I understand that work is progressing on the building
code.

Here in North Carolina, two years ago the state adopted the innovative
Chapter 9 -- Existing Building Code, though not without a lot of resistance
from the state Department of Insurance, which oversees code-related issues.
This chapter brought some sense to the issue of construction involving
existing buildings, which of course also includes historic structures.  We
are concerned about losing this new and sympathetic tool, which was in part
modeled after the Canadian code for existing buildings.

Is anyone involved in or aware of this national code effort?  Are we as a
movement tracking it?  Is there a national committee looking at existing
building codes as part of the overall effort to devise a single model
building code?  This is an important area for us, with the potential to
either put a giant hurdle in front of every building rehab in this country,
or conversely, to make each building rehab easier and more sensitive to the
issues of preservation.


____________________________________________
Dan Becker
Executive Director, Raleigh Historic Districts Commission

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