Page 102 - Urban Construction Project Management

Building Codes and Permits

(Why does the city want to know what we are doing?
4 Why do they want us to follow regulations?)

BUILDING CODES

The first building code was part of the Code of Hammurabi (approximately 2000 BC),
an ancient document that detailed the law of Babylon. In one section of the code it
states, “If a builder builds a house for someone and the house collapses and kills the
owner, then the builder shall be put to death.” Today’s codes are very similar in nature
to the Code of Hammurabi, except the consequences for not meeting the code are not
as severe. The codes that are used today were primarily established to protect the pub-
lic from injury and potential failure of a structure. Codes are in a constant state of flux
due to changes in technology but primarily to further reduce public risk usually as an
aftereffect of a tragic event. Thus, after the great Chicago fire of 1871 and the San
Francisco earthquake of 1906, the powers that be at the time saw the need for the imple-
mentation and improvement in the quality of codes in regard to fire protection and to
construct buildings that would not fail due to earthquake loads. The September 11, 2001
tragedy in New York City started a debate on how best to make large buildings safer for
the public. New York City created numerous committees staffed by professionals in the
building industry, to study ways to enhance and strengthen the code. The committees
evaluated the impact of the 9/11 tragedy on building construction and developed new
methods for making buildings safer.

At one time, each local municipality had its own code usually based on some national
building code standard. However, as of January 2008, 48 states and the District of
Columbia have adopted the International Building Code (IBC) as their standard. Some
municipalities (such as New York City) combined the IBC with sections of their own
building code (New York City Building Code).

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