Ontario’s new building code compendium on press

Ontario’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing is taking pre-orders for the official 2006 Building Code Compendium. The publication includes the province’s new and substantially changed revised official building code.

The new code itself has been available since late summer, but the compendium containing all the required documentation is delayed. It was supposed to have been issued in the fall but has only just gone to press. Many important changes took effect on December 31, 2006, although there is a transition period for implementing the rules.

The new code includes more than 700 technical changes affecting building design. The changes include significant increases in the energy efficiency requirements for buidlings and increased accessibility requirements. There are also changes to the design of small care homes and updates for the design of small buildings, including houses.

This is also the first code in Ontario issued with an “objective-based” format. It follows the release of the National Building Code of Canada’s objective-based code in 2005. So called “objective-based” building codes allow designers to propose alternative approaches to building design if they can show the new design will meet the same objectives as the results from following normal “prescriptive” code requirements. It’s a way of allowing more flexibility in design. The Ontario code compendium about to be published includes critical documentation for following the new objective based provisions such as supplementary standards for energy efficiency and an attribution table.

Ontario’s official building code compendium includes the following components:
Ontario Building Code (O.Reg. 350/06 as amended)
The Building Code Act, 1992
Climatic and seismic data
Essential regulatory Supplementary Standards
Highlights of major changes from the 1997 building Code
Up to date Minister’s rulings.

Publications Ontario is offering the compendium in English for $$50.00 soft cover and $165.00 binder. The department is also offering a new service that allows subscribers to automatically receive all future updates to the 2006 Building Code compendium binder for an annual subscription cost of $75.00.

See www.publications.gov.on.ca