Several associations that develop codes and standards to create green buildings are collaborating to align the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES/USGBC Standard 189.1 and the USGBC LEED green building program. The initiative is being welcomed by code officials, architects, engineers and contractors.
“In just a few years we progressed from developing the first model code for green buildings to a new cooperative document that will make it easier for owners, designers, builders and code officials to deliver sustainable, high-performing buildings,” said International Code Council (ICC) Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO.
Cooperating sponsors in the development of the IgCC are ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). All have agreed to collaborate on the development of the next edition of the IgCC, ASHRAE Standard 189.1 and the LEED green building program.
Standard 189.1 will continue to be produced as an American National Standards Institute consensus standard and then delivered to ICC to wrap into its code-compliance frame and position it for adoption as a building code by states and municipalities.
The technical content of the IgCC will consist of the mandatory, prescriptive and performance-based requirements developed for Standard 189.1; an updated standard will be produced every three years to complement the three-year code cycle.
For the steel industry’s perspective on this, read the article “Sustainability 2015: What’s New with Steel and Sustainability?” by AISC Vice President John Cross in the current March issue of MSC (available now!).