Certification Program

New certification requirements as of January 2013 have now been posted in the certification page.

Link

Career Opening

VILLE DE DIEPPE
Inspecteur des bâtiments
(Technologue sénior)

Relevant du directeur général adjoint, le titulaire du poste est responsable d’assurer la conformité des projets de construction de la partie 3 du Code national du bâtiment (CNB) pour les secteurs résidentiels, commerciaux, industriels et institutionnels et de la mise en oeuvre des arrêtés en vigueur.

Link

NBBOA in the News

An unprecedented collaboration between the Alliance of Canadian Building Officials Association (ACBOA), the New Brunswick Building Officials Association (NBBOA) and the International Code Council (ICC) has led to the development and delivery of seven training courses for building officials, designers and engineers in New Brunswick and across Canada. The efforts of all three organizations to provide Framed Housing Inspection – Part 9 is one of the first steps toward a coordinated provincial effort to harmonize recognized and acceptable standards of performance throughout Canada. More

Public Review on Proposed Changes

Public Review on Proposed Changes to the 2010 National Building Code ‒ Winter 2012

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) would like to invite your organization and its members—as stakeholders in the development of the National Model Construction Codes—to take part in the winter 2012 public review of proposed changes to incorporate energy efficiency for housing and small buildings into Part 9 of the National Building Code of Canada (NBC) 2010. If approved by the CCBFC, these technical changes will be published as revisions to the 2010 NBC near the end of 2012. Link


Examen public des modifications proposées au Code national du bâtiment de 2010 ‒ hiver 2012

La Commission canadienne des codes du bâtiment et de prévention des incendies (CCCBPI) invite votre organisme et ses membres à titre de parties intéressées à l’élaboration des codes modèles nationaux de construction à participer à l’examen public de l’hiver 2012 sur les modifications proposées à la partie 9 du Code national du bâtiment—Canada (CNB) 2010 pour intégrer des exigences d’efficacité énergétique visant les maisons et les petits bâtiments. Sous réserve de leur approbation par la CCCBPI, ces modifications techniques seront publiées sous forme de révisions au CNB 2010 à la fin de 2012. Link

Fall 2011 Public Review / Examen public de l'automne 2011

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) would like to
invite your organization and its members-as stakeholders in the development
of the National Model Construction Codes-to take part in the fall 2011
public review of proposed changes to the 2010 National Model Construction
Codes. The public review is one of the main steps in the process for
developing national code documents, providing a nation-wide forum where
anyone can review and comment on the changes proposed. The National Model
Construction Codes, comprising the National Building, Fire and Plumbing
Codes are model codes developed by the CCBFC that the provinces and
territories can adopt as is, or with modifications, as part of their
building, fire and plumbing regulations.

The public review will run from October 24, 2011 until December 16, 2011 on
the National Codes Web site,
www.nationalcodes.ca.

The CCBFC wishes to thank your organization and its membership for
contributing to the development of Canada's National Model Construction
Codes. We would appreciate you forwarding this invitation to your membership
and stakeholders.

Regards,

Anne C. Gribbon
Secretary to the CCBFC
Tel.: (613) 993-5569
Fax: (613) 952-4040
E-mail: anne.gribbon@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Web site: www.nationalcodes.ca


La Commission canadienne des codes du bâtiment et de prévention des
incendies (CCCBPI) invite votre organisme et ses membres à titre de parties
intéressées à l'élaboration des codes modèles nationaux de construction à
participer à l'examen public de l'automne 2011 sur les modifications
proposées aux codes modèles nationaux de 2010. L'examen public est l'une des
principales étapes dans le processus d'élaboration des codes nationaux et
sert de tribune nationale où tous peuvent examiner et formuler des
commentaires sur les modifications proposées. Les codes nationaux du
bâtiment, de prévention des incendies et de la plomberie élaborés par la
CCCBPI sont des codes modèles que les provinces et territoires peuvent
adopter tels quels ou qu'ils peuvent intégrer à leurs propres codes du
bâtiment, de prévention des incendies et de la plomberie après y avoir
apporté les modifications désirées.

L'examen public se tient du 24 octobre au 16 décembre 2011 par l'entremise
du site Web des codes nationaux,
www.codesnationaux.ca.

La CCCBPI désire remercier votre organisme et ses membres de contribuer à
l'élaboration des codes modèles nationaux de construction du Canada. Nous
vous saurions gré de bien vouloir faire suivre ce message à vos membres et
intervenants.

Meilleures salutations,

Anne C. Gribbon
Secrétaire de la CCCBPI
Tél. : (613) 993-5569
Téléc. : (613) 952-4040
Courriel : anne.gribbon@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Site web : www.codesnationaux.ca

2011 National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings

Upcoming release of the 2011 National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings

October 2011



At its spring 2011 meeting, the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) voted to approve the final proposed changes slated for inclusion in the National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings 2011 (NECB). This critical vote ensured that the NECB could be published this fall. The CCBFC also acknowledged the tremendous work by CCBFC standing committee members and the technical support staff of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to finish it in the short time available.



The NECB is the result of an extensive consultation process involving stakeholders from Canadian industry, multiple levels of government (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal), the construction industry, and the general public. It was developed by the CCBFC, with technical support and funding provided by the National Research Council of Canada and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) as part of its commitment to improving the energy efficiency of Canadian buildings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For the first time ever, the NECB places Canada on a comparable footing with most countries that lead the world in energy efficient building construction.



Key characteristics

The new code contains close to 245 technical changes from the 1997 Model National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings (MNECB) that address a host of issues such as the building envelope; lighting; heating, ventilation and air-conditioning; service water heating; electrical power systems and motors; and building energy performance compliance. Its technical requirements also accommodate the many new technologies and construction practices that have emerged in Canada over the past 15 years.



The NECB is an objective-based code with each provision having related objective-based information, including objectives and functional statements as well as intent statements.



The development of the NECB was initiated by the CCBFC in response to stakeholder requests to add a new objective on energy efficiency to the National Model Construction Codes. Based on consultations and a detailed policy analysis, the CCBFC concluded that regulations were an effective tool to support the policy direction of increased energy efficiency for buildings and that a national model code on energy efficiency was justifiable to effectively address an overall objective related to the environment, with a sub-objective focused on resource conservation and future potential sub-objectives on reduced greenhouse gas emissions, infrastructure capacity and energy security, as well as to address the policy goal of harmonization of construction codes across Canada. The CCBFC observed that other tools, such as education, incentives and labeling programs, also contribute to successful achievement of an overall energy efficiency policy.



A key characteristic of the NECB is its overall performance improvement compared with the MNECB. The goal underlying development of its technical requirements was for a 25% improvement over the 1997 Code. The actual target achieved will be 26.2%, as determined in an external consultant’s evaluation. This result is a weighted average for the whole country and is based on many factors, including the energy performance level from which a region started. Its impact will be less in regions where energy efficiency construction practice is already higher than that specified in the MNECB and greater for those starting from a lower energy efficiency performance.



Another important characteristic is its flexibility. As with all other national model codes, provinces and territories will be able to adopt the NECB as is or tailor it to suit their particular jurisdictional needs. The CCBFC will offer detailed guidance to those jurisdictions who, for policy reasons, may want to amend the Code.



The NECB addresses the energy used by the building, irrespective of the energy source, with no exemption within the prescriptive requirements for any type of assembly construction. As lighting of unoccupied interior spaces is an unnecessary use of energy, it requires the installation of automatic lighting controls for many applications. It also requires the installation of heat recovery equipment for most occupancy types (the exception being self-contained residential units in some climate zones) as this produces significant energy savings by minimizing the loss of waste heat.



A review of the minimum equipment efficiency standards contained in the Energy Efficiency Act (EEA) for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), as well as service water heating, determined that they were below current industry practice. As a result, the NECB sets a minimum efficiency in the prescriptive path based on the industry's median level for most HVAC and service water heating applications. Reduced equipment efficiencies to the floor level set by the EEA will still be allowed through the code’s trade-off or performance compliance approaches.



Prescriptive building envelope requirements set a maximum fenestration-to-wall ratio that varies based on the local climatic conditions (i.e. heating-degree days). The ratio is set at 0.40 for locations with heating-degree days of 4000°C or less, and 0.20 for locations with heating-degree days of 7000°C or more. The ratio for areas with heating-degree days between these two values varies linearly. The NECB allows deviation from this when using the trade-off or performance compliance approaches.



The NECB also contains specific prescriptive provisions in the building envelope trade-off and performance compliance paths to deal with semi-heated spaces.



These major changes will be explained further in free online presentations expected to be available on the national codes website (www.nationalcodes.ca) in January 2012. The NECB will be published on November 18, 2011. To pre-order a copy, please visit the NRC Virtual Store (www.nrc.gc.ca/virtualstore).



For more information, please contact Cathy Taraschuk at (613) 993-0049 or e-mail cathleen.taraschuk@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.

Course News

The Education Committee of the NBBOA regrets to advise that due to insufficient course registrations for the Part 9 Structural Requirements (scheduled for Sep 26-30, 2011) this course has been cancelled.

Further note that the registration deadline for The House - Building Envelope is being extended to Wednesday, September 14, 2011. If you intend to take this course and have not previously registered, you need to submit your registration and payment to my office no later than Wednesday, September 14, 2011.

The Education Committee has asked me to remind all members that registration deadlines for all future courses will be strictly enforced. This is required to ensure that unnecessary expenses are not incurred by the Association and sufficient time is available to prepare materials and accommodations for course delivery.

With the pending enforcement of the NB Building Code Act and related educational requirements for all building inspectors in the province, we encourage each of you to seriously consider taking the courses as offered by the Committee. Courses offered this session will not be offered for possibly another twelve months.