Business View Magazine | September 2020

22 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 products in building codes. We were a member of an ad hoc committee at ICC that studied the opportunity to expand the code to allow for taller and larger buildings constructed from mass timber products. The ICC has annual hearings to develop codes; any interested party can propose a change to the code, take it through the hearing process, and if the ICC governmental consensus voting membership approves of it, it will be in the next edition of the code. So, as a committee member we were involved in a series of changes that actually came from this ad hoc committee on tall wood buildings. It proposed to allow mass timber buildings up to 18 stories in height and much larger in area than what’s currently permitted by the 2018 Code for mass timber buildings. “As part of the ad hoc committee’s research, there was extensive fire testing of mass timber conducted and the results were very reassuring to building and fire officials. The ad hoc committee studied research and developed proposals based on science and testing. During the 2018 and 2019 code development hearings the ICC membership heard testimony from the ad hoc committee and many other interested parties, before approving the allowances for tall mass timber. Historically the building code permitted wood frame buildings up to a maximum of 85 feet and six stories. What these new, recently-approved changes to the 2021 International Building Code will allow are mass timber buildings up to 18 stories and 270 feet in height. So, this really is an unprecedented change for the model building codes; unlike anything that’s occurred in the past 100 years of building code development. So, the industry and design community are pretty excited about that. “And there’s also, now, quite a bit of emphasis on the environmental aspects of building materials and their role in mitigating the effects of climate change. We’re very proud of the fact that wood products are low-embodied carbon products; it takes very little fossil-based energy to manufacture wood products and they’re from Vice President for Codes and Regulations, Kenneth Bland