Dive Brief:
- President Barack Obama is calling on the private construction industry and public agencies to ensure that building codes become more resilient to the severe weather effects of climate change.
- A core plank of the White House’s initiative, which will most likely raise construction costs, is a 2005 National Institute of Building Sciences study that determined $4 of benefits are realized with every $1 spent on reducing hazardous conditions, according to Bloomberg.
- There are no national building codes in the U.S., so the White House will advocate for standards developed by "leaders of the design and construction industry," including those who were enlisted in the Resilience Building Coalition.
Dive Insight:
Many public agencies also have the power to set construction and design standards, so the White House announced several federal initiatives including:
- Incorporation of resilient building codes into U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Department of Agriculture housing programs
- Updates to the 2005 Multihazard Mitigation Council Mitigation Saves study by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the National Institute of Building Sciences
- A disaster deductible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Public Assistance program
- Climate change risk screening for the General Services Administration's capital investment leasing program
- Tornado-resilient codes and standards from the National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Resilient building codes from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
In addition, the White House announced its support of strategies and initiatives from private industry groups such as the American Institute of Architects, the Associated General Contractors of America, the Building Owners and Managers Association International and the International Code Council.
The West Coast deals with one of the biggest natural threats to its built environment— earthquakes — with comprehensive building codes developed, and then redeveloped again, after major earthquake incidents. There are also retrofit initiatives in those states to ensure structures built prior to the enactment of modern standards are reinforced to better withstand earthquakes. The problem, however, is that there is no certification, licensing or mandatory training for retrofit contractors — some of whom don't have enough experience with construction or earthquakes to do an adequate job.
In addition, oftentimes it's not about adequate codes, but their implementation. During a Christmas week storm in Texas last year, a tornado struck a Red Oak Independent School District elementary school, ripping off exterior walls. Despite the contractor's assertions that the project was built to code, an independent engineer's investigation revealed that wall fasteners were not installed according to the plans and specifications. The building passed its inspections during the initial construction phase, leading some to advise a reexamination of current building codes in the state.
