NYC Considers IBC on the Eve of 2003 Revision

In December, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with Dept. of Buildings (DOB) Commissioner Patricia Lancaster and City Council Housing and Buildings Chair Madeline Provenzano, announced that the city would research the possibility of adopting the International Building Code (IBC).

The new 2003 IBC is scheduled for release in mid-February by the International Code Council (ICC).

New York City’s current Building Code is the country’s largest and most complex. A code commission, formed by the mayor’s office in cooperation with the City Council’s Housing and Buildings Committee, has been formed to determine whether New York’s adoption of IBC is feasible and is expected to report its findings sometime this spring.

“By relying on the staff of the International Code Commission to draft and update the Building Code, the city receives the benefit of a powerful public/private partnership with a staff of more than 350 building professionals dedicated to maintaining and enhancing the most exhaustive and technologically sophisticated building code available,” says Lancaster.

According to Mark Johnson of ICC, the adoption of the ICC Codes by the city of New York would mean that the citizens would be afforded the same high level of safety that others who have adopted the codes are experiencing. “This in and of itself has the most meaning and significance for the ICC and its staff,” he says.

The state of New York has already adopted the International Codes, one of 20 states to do so.

Highlights of the 2003 IBC include the following:

• Chapter 7 (Fire-resistance-rated Construction) includes a new section which addresses smoke partitions.

• Chapter 9 (Fire Protection Systems) now requires the use of automatic sprinkler systems for exterior balconies and ground-floor patio of dwelling units where the building is of Type V construction.

• Chapter 10 (Means of Egress) has been reformatted by revising the numbering system in such a manner that topics are easier to locate for the code user.

• Chapter 11 (Accessibility) has been significantly revised to resolve variances that existed between the 2000 IBC and the Fair Housing Act (FHA).

• Chapter 16 (Structural Design) has been updated and adopts the latest provisions of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7-02.

• Chapter 19 (Concrete) has been updated to the latest American Concrete Institute (ACI) 318-02 provisions.

• Chapter 21 (Masonry) includes structural design provisions that have been updated to conform with the ACI 530.1-02/ASCE 6-02/TMS 602-02.

• Chapter 23 (Wood) has a new table 2306.3.2 that addresses high-load allowable shear diaphragm values for wood sheathed shear walls. Also, this chapter has been updated to the 2001 edition of the National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction.

In addition, two new publications will complete the 14-part set of the International Code family:

• 2003 International Existing Building Code (IEBC). This addition to the International Code series applies to the repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition and relocation of existing buildings. It provides minimum regulations for existing buildings using prescriptive and performance-related provisions. The 2003 IEBC is fully compatible with all other International Codes.

• 2003 International Urban Wildland Interface Code (IUWIC ). This new addition to the International Codes establishes minimum regulations for land use and the built environment in designated urban-wildland interface areas using prescriptive and performance-related provisions.

ICC has also released a stand-alone performance code, the ICC Performance Code for Buildings and Facilities. This code is fully compatible with the IBC and other volumes of the International Code Series and defines the objectives for achieving the intended outcomes regarding occupant safety, property protection and community welfare. It also provides a framework to achieve the defined objectives in terms of tolerable levels of damage and magnitudes of design events, such as fires and natural hazards.

For the latest information on statewide and local adoptions of IBC, go to https://www.intlcode.org/government/stateadoptions.xls .

International Codes that have been updated for 2003:

International Building Code

International Existing Building Code

International Urban Wildland Interface Code

International Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings

International Fire Code

ICC Performance Code for Buildings and Facilities

International Energy Conservation Code

International Mechanical Code

International Fuel Gas Code

International Plumbing Code

International Private Sewage Disposal Code

International Property Maintenance Code

International Zoning Code

ICC Electrical Code Administrative

Provisions

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