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ANDY ODING: “There’s a big number of Ontario-based participants on the NBC standing committees. That said, the harmonization with national codes poses a challenge in that the provincial HBAs need to lead a well-coordinated participation and timely response to both national code work and to the provincial adoption process. Most of the other provincial HBAs have full-time staff members who actually work on technical code review, guidance and coordination of local and provincial builder feedback and education. The world of codes and standards is becoming increasingly complex. We love being active members of OHBA and four local Ontario HBAs, but if there’s any place we can put our membership money to good use right now, it would be putting good people in paid positions at the OHBA to be active at the national code development level, fronting Ontario’s interest and builder/developer industry and providing ongoing guidance to the Ontario industry regarding technical challenges and opportunities. Our neighbours in Alberta and B.C. have this, and the other provinces as well. It’s a paradigm shift for us, but I think it’s what needs to happen.”

THIS IS GOING TO BE A TIGHT WINDOW TO MEET DEADLINES. MIKOYO OIKAWA: “You know that horrible nightmare you have, where the exam is tomorrow and you haven’t studied? Well, this code change is like that. We had a 45-day consultation period. Sometime early this year, the changes to the Ontario Building Code need to be shown to industry. They will come into effect probably January 2024. Hypothetically, if they’re released in March, we’d have less than 12 months to adopt and understand them and put them into play for our 2024 projects.”

JOHN LANE: “OBOA was advised by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing that there are 7,000 code provisions and over 2,000 anticipated changes in the next round of amendments, with another equal number of harmonization changes following the release of the next

National Building Code in 2025. It’s unrealistic to expect the industry and practitioners to be prepared for the significant amount of change in less than 18-24 months from the release of the next edition. And in that same time frame, it would not be unexpected for the next batch of code harmonization changes to be released for our consultation review. So we’re trying to learn the new code changes while also volunteering our opinions on the pending code changes. It’s unrealistic to expect the industry, including the OBOA and George Brown College and other educational institutions, to alone fund the training and education needed to bring practitioners up to speed. By our own estimate, 3,000 to 4,000 person hours will be required to revise existing materials just in this round of changes. I expect permit fees to go up.”

ANDY ODING: “I’m worried less about the nuances and technical details and far more about the time frame. In 2006 we had this new thing called an energy code in Ontario, and that only took us until 2012! Now we have basically one year. Retraining BCIN (licensing) in class with all your staff between now and then, well, good luck! I think that’s why we have to separate the harmonization effort from the technical performance increase. With the NBC 2020 9.36, we now have five tiers, Tiers 4 and 5 being considered Net Zero Ready. Already the work is underway for 2025 to tweak some of the technical guidance, but also to develop a building code for alterations to existing homes and buildings. As an Ontario builder/renovator, if you have concerns, you need to get involved in the code process. There is now intention to provide some guidance for operational carbon reduction within the 2025 NBC. We may see some guidance on embodied carbon reduction by 2030, along with enhanced resiliency requirements. Working groups are already in place, where they’re exploring whether air conditioning should be required as a mandatory item in some areas of Canada. So get used to this pace, because I don’t see it changing very much.” OHB