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Category: National News

Washington, DC - Building codes set the baseline for the safe design and construction of our homes, schools, and workplaces, providing the minimum requirements to adequately safeguard the health, safety and welfare of building occupants.  The impacts of climate change – including hotter temperatures, more extreme weather, sea level rise, and more severe drought – pose significant challenges for buildings and homes, many of which were not built to withstand the future impacts of climate change. 

Today, the White House hosted a Conference on Resilient Building Codes to highlight the critical role of building codes in furthering community resilience and the importance of incorporating resilience and the future impacts of climate change in the codes and standards development process. 

As part of today’s event, the Administration highlighted Federal and private sector efforts aimed at advancing the principles of resilience in building codes and standards, and building design.  President Obama declared May as National Building Safety Month in order to recognize and pay tribute to those who ensure the safety and resilience of our Nation's buildings, and to reaffirm our commitment to upholding and abiding by strong and effective building safety standards. 

New Federal actions announced today include:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announces it will review, through the Department’s executive-level Climate Council, its existing building construction requirements with the goal of aligning program requirements with the most recent model building codes and standards for resilient construction.  This action responds to the 2014 Housing and Urban Development Climate Change Adaptation Plan recommendation to update building standards to incorporate sustainability and resilience measures.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announces its support for an effort by the National Institute of Building Science to revisit and extend the 2005 Mitigation Saves study that demonstrated that for every dollar spent on hazard mitigation, society saves $4.  This new study, titled “An Independent Study on Savings Associated with Public and Private Mitigation” seeks to both update the original Mitigation Saves study data as well as to study the cost-effectiveness of private-sector mitigation. 

The Federal Emergency Management Agency commits to further explore incentivizing the adoption and enforcement of building codes at the state and local level through a disaster deductible requirement for the Public Assistance Program.  In January 2016, FEMA published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking introducing the deductible as a general concept and soliciting input from stakeholders.  FEMA is currently evaluating the extensive input that was received and is developing a more detailed plan, to be put forth for additional public discussion in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.  The revised plan would allow states to earn credits toward their deductible requirement through adoption and enforcement of building codes.  

GSA commits to systematically incorporate climate change risk management into its Capital Investment Program and the P-100 Facilities Standard. In addition, GSA commits to develop a decision-making framework to help GSA customers identify and manage climate-related risks to their supply chains. These efforts support best value decisions by addressing climate change vulnerabilities and ensuring that the initial public investment is fit for purpose over the asset life.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, in coordination with FEMA and other Federal agencies, announces that it is developing state-of-the-science tornado hazard maps, which will underpin a new performance-based standard for design of buildings and other structures to better resist tornadoes. These tornado maps and standard will help design professionals ensure that future buildings are better equipped to withstand the impacts of high winds and debris. 

Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launched a website to promote more resilient communities through use of the latest standards and criteria, building codes, and recent climate science. The Corps’ website serves as a single starting point for planners and designers with needs for greater building safety and resilience.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the upcoming release of the Office of Sustainable Communities Smart Growth Code Fixes for Climate Adaptation report.  This report will give communities a menu of changes they can make to zoning and building codes and related policies to prepare for and adapt to climate change while bringing other environmental, economic, social, and health benefits. The report will be available in Fall 2016.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Infrastructure Protection announces that it will release the Community Infrastructure Resilience Toolkit (CIRT) in late 2016. The CIRT will help communities develop a Community Infrastructure Resilience Plan that will provide actionable guidance for building critical infrastructure resilience considerations into planning and resource allocation decisions at the community level.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development announces it will review its existing building construction requirements with the goal of aligning program requirements with the most recent model building codes and standards for resilient construction.  This action responds to the 2014 USDA Climate Change Adaptation Plan recommendations to update building standards to incorporate sustainability and resilience measures.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, in partnership with the General Services Administration, announces that it is seeking an exchange partner to redevelop the 14-acre John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (Volpe Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts using principles of resilient design on the new Federal building portion of the project. 

 

New Private Sector actions highlighted today include: