New Topics In The Updated National Building Code

Guidelines on climate resil­ience and hazardous sub­stances are among new inclusions in the revised national building code, it has been revealed.

Janis Fedorowick, of policy plan­ning firm Wavefront Planning and Design Inc, said electrical access to class one buildings was also an area under consideration.

She is part of a team reviewing the national building code, which is expected to be a public docu­ment by next year.

“It doesn’t always stay the same as we go through the consultation process,” Ms Fedorowick said.

“It’s evolving as we speak.”

In a presentation, at the 2022 Con­struction Industry Council annual conference and tradeshow, she said the right amount of flexibil­ity must be implemented to get the intent across.

“It must meet the code,” Ms Fe­dorowick said, at Warwick Fiji. We also want to guarantee a cer­tain amount of safety, a certain amount of resilience."

“Everything in a code is a must, not a should.”

As a performance based docu­ment, the need for flexibility was essential, she said.

"The national building code had to be enforceable, unlike certain existing documents that were oth­erwise," Ms Fedorowick said.

“Part of it has to do with the lan­guage,” she said.

“Part of it also has to do with the question of being too onerous, is it something that can be done, which is something that needs to be considered when we are creat­ing these standards."

“Do we write this for the mo­ment, or do we write it for some­thing that is in the future?”

"Of all the documents she has had to write, 65 per cent of people took a momentary approach, with up­dated amendements introduced at a later date," Ms Fedorowick said.

"The other 35 per cent were more for a vision that they wished to achieve, and an accompanying standard of policies that reflected it," she said.

“We have to decide what that will be for this code,” Ms Fedorowick said.

Feedback: frederica.elbourne@fijisun.com.fj