Around Town

June 27, 2019

With the plan for all of Canada to agree on a harmonized building code, the Government of Canada has granted funding to the National Research Council Canada (NRC) to provide free access to the National Building Codes.  

While the NRC publishes the codes, provinces, territories, and some municipalities choose to modify sections to suit jurisdictional building needs.  As a result, the Code is currently applied differently across the country and reports state that these differences impose significant costs and impacts on the productivity of the construction industry. 

It’s expected that harmonization, timely adoption, and free access to the Code will reduce costs on the sector and improve accessibility. Similar initiatives in other countries comparable to Canada have realized an economic benefit between $500 million and $1 billion annually.

To access the National Building Code, Fire Code, Plumbing Code, National Energy Code for Buildings for free, visit nrc.canada.ca.  Paid access to the BC Codes remains available at www.bccodes.ca. 

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