City Requests Input on Greening Codes

Under Mayor Bill White´s direction the current code update cycle underway at the City of Houston Code Enforcement Branch will include provisions for “greening the codes”. Those in the Houston’s green building community can provide a great resource for ideas and are invited to participate in the code development process.City of Houston Code Administrator and recent CEC Synergy award winner Sheila Blake recently spoke to U.S. Green Building Council members about the city process and the codes being reviewed with the assistance of the Construction Industry Council (CIC). The CIC historically advises the city on technical codes and is an organization made up of associations representing over 40 industry groups including the USGBC.

National construction codes are revised every three years. Typically, it takes 2 to 3 years for the entire package to be reviewed for adoption by the city. The current code review is underway. The City of Houston is considering the codes in the following sequence : 1) 2006 International Building Code – nearly complete , 2) 2006 Uniform Mechanical Code – at the halfway mark, 3) 2006 Uniform Plumbing Code , 4) 2006 International Fire Code, and 5) 2006 International Residential Code. Note that the City already has a new energy code which was a priority for the Mayor, and the State of Texas currently requires cities to adopt the 2008 electrical code.

Blake asked members to assist with 3 requests:

First, share your experiences with Code Barriers. Have you run into barriers that didn´t seem to make sense or delayed a LEED project to the extent that credits were dropped or the project decided against going green? What are your ideas and recommended solutions?

Second, can you volunteer to serve on a code committee? No one is expected to know every aspect of the code but there is a need for a variety of perspectives. Be prepared for exhaustive discussions on minutiae as this is a technical review process designed to incorporate the best thinking and expertise available from volunteers in the industry. These volunteers are invaluable to the successful development of local codes and greatly appreciated by the City of Houston.

Third, Blake serves at the national level on the US Green Building Council Codes Committee. Ideas and comments are being requested to identify where national model code changes may be proposed that encourage green practices while meeting the health and safety mission of regulatory standards. Associated with this is an effort to create “Compliance Packages” for alternative methods to strict code compliance. They are issuing a call to design and development teams to share their successes in achieving acceptance by jurisdictions for green strategies that may not be specifically allowed in existing building codes.

If you have questions or comments, or would like to participate, Sheila Blake can be reached at 713-535-7525 or by email at Sheila.blake@cityofhouston.net. Code Subcommittee meetings, open to the public, are held on Wednesdays at the City’s Code Enforcement office at 3300 Main St.