Understanding Building Codes- A History

Building codes have been in existence for over 4000 years. One of the earliest written codes comes from Babylon and is known as the Code of Hammurabi, written around 1750BC. The part of the code pertaining to buildings is essentially an 'eye for an eye' where if the house fell in and killed the owner, then the builder was put to death. More recent codes have been driven by disasters. For example, the great London fire of 1666 led to the 'London Building Act' of 1668 which led to some of the first appointed building inspectors. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire in 1906 led to the formation of the first building codes in the United States. The system of building regulations in the United States has been based on three regional model code groups. Codes developed by the Building Officials Code Administrators International (BOCA) were used on the east coast and in the midwest known as the BOCA National Building Code. Codes from the Southern Building Code Congress International (SBCCI) were used in the south and southeast known as the Standard Building Code. Codes published by the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO) covered the west coast and into the midwest known as the Uniform Building Code. Local jurisdictions would adopt the particular year the code was published and the particular model code, for example the '1985 Standard Code'. Building codes are updated every three years, so if a city had not updated their ordinance, they might be operating under an outdated code. Each jurisdiction could adopt any model code they saw fit. As you can see, this created some confusion in the building and design industry. From one city to the next, there could be significant differences and keeping up with the modifications was nearly an impossible task. It became obvious in the early 1990's that the country needed a single coordinated set of national building codes. The three model code groups decided to combine their efforts and in 1994 formed the International Code Council (ICC) to develop codes that would have no regional limitations. The first International Building Code was published in 1997 and by 2000, the ICC had completed the International Code series and the other codes (BOCA, Standard, and Uniform) have ceased to be published. As has been the pattern, the IBC (International Building Code) is updated every three years. Most cities have adopted either the 2006 or 2009 code and some are moving to adopt the 2012. What if your school is not in the limits of a city jurisdiction? The Texas Education Agency (TEA) has stated that if this is the case, the School Board must adopt the latest building code for your building project. The building codes are here for all of our protection. As I continue this series I will outline some of the basics of the code so that you can be aware of the what are the most common code violations that we encounter when we assess schools. Michael D. King AIA