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IBC Chapter 27 Proposal

Group A Model Building Codes

International Building Code Definitions: Chapter 2

“The Tower of Babel” 1563 | Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Widely accepted definitions (sometimes “terms of art”) are critical in building codes because they ensure clarity, consistency, and precision in communication among architects, engineers, contractors, and regulators. Ambiguity or misinterpretation of terms like “load-bearing capacity,” “fire resistance,” “egress” or “grounding and bonding” could lead to design flaws, construction errors, or inadequate safety measures, risking lives and property.

“Standardized” definitions — by nature unstable — create a shared language that transcends local practices or jargon, enabling uniform application and enforcement across jurisdictions. Today at the usual hour we explore the nature and the status of the operational language that supports our raison d’être of making educational settlements safer, simpler, lower-cost and longer-lasting.

2021 IBC Chapter 2: Definitions

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Group B Documents

Complete Monograph (2650 pages) | Note our proposal on Page 754

“All language is but a poor translation.”
― Franz Kafka
The Impossibility of Translating Franz Kafkahttps://t.co/OotULfVwA5 @ASTMIntl
Standard Practice for Assessing Language Proficiencyhttps://t.co/RQVv3TJs2k pic.twitter.com/EZax9evtNL

— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) April 25, 2021

“Ever wondered what would happen if elevator’s didn’t have buttons and relied on vocal recognition instead?”
The Scottish Comedy Channel | @ComedyUnit
Language is the only homelandhttps://t.co/fulQaBUBDC https://t.co/mrQCfy4niM pic.twitter.com/8ipdyFLPuW

— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) July 11, 2024

‘Girls tell about their time at Canadian College of English Language’https://t.co/SKYf5gNZLX https://t.co/fsQaxC1L69 pic.twitter.com/FBywkbB1BY

— Standards Michigan (@StandardsMich) July 1, 2024

Child Day Care

Group B Proposed Changes to the 2024 Editions Complete Monograph (2650 pages)

For today’s session note the proposals listed below:

ADM1-25 Part I (p. 61)

G39-25 Part I (p. 522)

G40-25 Part I (p. 527)

G39-25 Part II (p. 535)

G144-25 (p. 740)

EB7-25 (p. 1438)

Z1-25 (p. 2582)

2025 ICC Leadership Week + Hearings Committee Action Hearings – Group B #1 | April 26 – May 6 | Orlando, Florida

Link to April Committee Action Hearing Videos

2024 Complete Change Monograph (2658 Pages)

“Kindergarten” c. 1885 / Johann Sperl

Safety and sustainability for any facility begins with an understanding of who shall occupy the built environment and how. University settings, with mixed-use phenomenon arising spontaneously and temporarily, often present challenges. Educational communities are a convergent settings for families; day care facilities among them. First principles regarding occupancy classifications for day care facilities appear in Section 308 of the International Building Code, Institutional Group I; linked below:

2018 International Building Code Section 308 Institutional Group I-4 (Superseded in some jurisdictions)

The ICC Institutional Group I-4 classification includes buildings and structures occupied by more than five persons of any age who received custodial care for fewer than 24 hours per day by persons other than parents or guardian, relatives by blood, marriage or adoption, and in a place other than the home of the person cared far. This group includes both adult and child day care.

We maintain focus on child day care. Many educational communities operate child day care enterprises for both academic study and/or as auxiliary (university employee benefit) enterprises.

Princeton University Child Care Center

Each of the International Code Council code development groups fetch back to a shared understanding of the nature of the facility; character of its occupants and prospective usage patterns.

The 2024 revision of the International Building code is in production now. Ahead of the formal, market release of the Group A tranche of titles you can sample the safety concepts in play during this revision with an examination of the documents linked below:

2019 GROUP B PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES ALBUQUERQUE COMMITTEE ACTION HEARINGS

2019 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ACTION HEARINGS ON THE 2018 EDITIONS OF THE GROUP B INTERNATIONAL CODES

Search on the terms “day care” and “daycare” in the link at the top of this page to get a sample of the prevailing concepts; use of such facilities as storm shelters, for example.

“The Country School” | Winslow Homer

We encourage our safety and sustainability colleagues to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process. We slice horizontally through the disciplinary silos (“incumbent verticals”) created by hundreds of consensus product developers every week and we can say, upon considerable authority that the ICC consensus product development environment is one of the best in the world. Privately developed standards (for use by public agencies) is a far better way to discover and promulgate leading practice than originating technical specifics from legislative bodies. CLICK HERE to get started. Contact Kimberly Paarlberg (kpaarlberg@iccsafe.org) for more information.

There are competitor consensus products in this space — Chapter 18 Day-Care Occupancies in NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code, for example; a title we maintain the standing agenda of our Model Building Code teleconferences. It is developed from a different pool of expertise under a different due process regime. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [18-166]

Category: Architectural, Healthcare Facilities, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Richard Robben

Recent concepts in play in transcripts:

Tempered water for public hand-washing facilities
Walking surfaces
Exit signage for non-resident, non-English speaking children
Fire rating of corridors
Bathing privacy concepts
Water heater controls and monitoring; mixing valves

LEARN MORE:

cdpACCESS Hearing Video Streaming Service

Historic Buildings

2024 / 2025 / 2026 Code Development: Group B (2025)

Complete Monograph (2630 pages)

Notre-Dame de Paris “Our Lady of Paris” Wikimedia Commons

International Existing Building Code: Chapter 12 Historic Buildings

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Notre-Dame de Paris “Our Lady of Paris” Wikimedia Commons

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

LIVE: I-Code Group B Public Comment Hearings

Storm Shelters

2024 GROUP A PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES

Morning Shower (And All That)

Complete Monograph: 2024 GROUP A PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES

Annual Conference Home Page

“The Bathing Pool” | Hubert Robert (1733–1808)

CLICK IMAGE to access complete text

Design Considerations for Hot Water Plumbing

Baseline Standards for Student Housing

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Indoor plumbing has a long history, but it became widely available in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the United States, for example, the first indoor plumbing system was installed in the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg, Virginia in the early 18th century. However, it was not until the mid-19th century that indoor plumbing became more common in middle-class homes.

One important milestone was the development of cast iron pipes in the 19th century, which made it easier to transport water and waste throughout a building. The introduction of the flush toilet in the mid-19th century also played a significant role in making indoor plumbing more practical and sanitary.

By the early 20th century, indoor plumbing had become a standard feature in most middle-class homes in the United States and other developed countries. However, it was still not widely available in rural areas and poorer urban neighborhoods until much later.

International Plumbing Code

Form v. Function | Function v. Form

International Mechanical Code

2024 / 2025 / 2026 Code Development: Group B (2025)

“Plaza Italia” 1971 | Giorgio de Chirico

After architectural trades, the mechanical technologies occupy the largest part of building construction:

HVAC:
- Heating Systems: Technologies include furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, and radiant heating systems.
- Ventilation Systems: Incorporating technologies like air handlers, fans, and ductwork to ensure proper air circulation.
- Air Conditioning Systems: Including central air conditioning units, split systems, and variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems.
Plumbing:
- Water Supply Systems: Involving technologies for water distribution, pumps, and pressure regulation.
- Sanitary Systems: Including drainage, sewage systems, and waste disposal technologies.
- Fixtures and Faucets: Incorporating technologies for sinks, toilets, showers, and other plumbing fixtures.
Fire Protection:
- Fire Sprinkler Systems: Employing technologies like sprinkler heads, pipes, pumps, and water tanks.
- Fire Suppression Systems: Including technologies such as gas-based or foam-based suppression systems.
Energy Efficiency Technologies:
- Energy Management Systems (EMS): Utilizing sensors, controllers, and software to optimize energy consumption in HVAC systems.
- Energy Recovery Systems: Incorporating technologies like heat exchangers to recover and reuse energy from exhaust air.
Building Automation (BAS):
- Control Systems: Using sensors, actuators, and controllers to manage and automate various mechanical systems for optimal performance and energy efficiency.
- Smart Building Technologies: Integrating with other building systems for centralized control and monitoring.
Materials and Construction Techniques:
- Piping Materials: Selecting appropriate materials for pipes and fittings based on the application.
- Prefab and Modular Construction: Leveraging off-site fabrication and assembly for mechanical components.

Our examination of the movement in best practice in the mechanical disciplines usually requires an understanding of first principles that appear in the International Building Code

2024 International Mechanical Code

Current Code Development Cycles (2024-2026)

2024/2025/2026 Code Development Schedule

“On the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat” | 1850 James Prescott Joule | Proceedings of the Royal Society of London

Representative Design Guidelines:

Michigan State University

Florida State University

US Department of Energy: Sandia National Laboratories

Group A Model Building Codes

We are waiting for the link to the Complete Monograph for the Group A cycle in which one of our proposals (Chapter 27 Electrical) will be heard at the April 2023 Committee Action Hearings in Orlando.

Superceded:

Because of the larger, disruptive concepts usually require more than one revision cycle — i.e. 3 to 9 years — it is wise to track those ideas in the transcripts of public hearings on the revisions. For example, the ICC Group A Committee Action Hearings were completed (virtually) in May 2021. The complete monograph of proposals is linked below:

2021 Group A Complete Proposed Changes

Transcript of committee response is linked below:

2021 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ACTION HEARINGS ON THE 2021 EDITIONS OF THE GROUP A INTERNATIONAL CODES

A sample of the topics that need attention that involve the mechanical disciplines (e.g. energy, environmental air, water) :

Soil gas and carbon monoxide detection and mitigation
Minimum number of required plumbing fixtures in schools and higher education community facilities
Fixtures for adult changing stations and gender neutral toilet and bathing facilities
Fat, oil and grease interceptors in kitchens
Dormitories, residence halls

There are others ideas that can be tracked in the most recent Group B Hearings included April 6th:

LIVE: I-Code Group B Public Comment Hearings

Proposals for the 2024 IMC revision will be accepted until January 7, 2024. We maintain this title among our core titles during our periodic Mechanical teleconferences. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Students-in-barrons-kitchen university of houston 1921 719

"Microgrids represent a transformational opportunity in how energy is generated, delivered, and consumed" - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

georgia tech students summer energy building 1921

erasmus university rotterdam 1921 721 athletic interior

EFvcrG2WwAExsdf university of wisconsin milwaukee UWM water leaders wisconsin 1923

Washtenaw Community College mechanical michigan students staff 1921

2024/2025/2026 ICC CODE DEVELOPMENT SCHEDULE

Issue: [Various]

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

Group A includes the following codes:

International Building Code (IBC) – Egress, Fire Safety, General Portions
International Fire Code (IFC)
International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC)
International Mechanical Code (IMC)
International Plumbing Code (IPC)
International Private Sewage Disposal Code (IPSDC)
International Residential Code (IRC) – Mechanical, Plumbing
International Swimming Pool and Spa Code (ISPSC)
International Zoning Code (IZC)
International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC)
International Wildland-Urban Interface Code (IWUIC)

ICC Code Development Process: Important Links

Workspace / ICC

Stairway Design & Construction

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International Plumbing Code

The International Plumbing Code (IPC) is developed to harmonize with the full span of ICC’s family of building codes. The IPC sets minimum regulations for plumbing systems and components to protect life, health and safety of building occupants and the public. The IPC is available for adoption by jurisdictions ranging from states to towns, and is currently adopted on the state or local level in 35 states in the U.S, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

CLICK HERE for the 2021 Public Access Edition

SOURCE: CLICK ON IMAGE | Contact ICC for most recent IPC adoption map

The IPC is developed in the ICC Group A Code development framework and concluded its revision cycle in late 2021 under the circumstances of the pandemic. The 2023 International Plumbing Code revision cycle will not begin until early 2023 but it is never too soon to understand the issues from previous revision cycles to enlighten approaches to the forthcoming Group A revision cycle. The complete monograph of the Group A Codes is linked below, with comments on IPC proposals starting on Page 1417 of this 1613 page document:

2021 IPC | Group A Public Comment Monograph

Because transgender issues are on the agenda of many facility managers we direct you to Page 1424 of the rather large document linked above.

As always, we persist in encouraging education industry facility managers (especially those with operations and maintenance data) to participate in the ICC code development process. You may do so by CLICKING HERE.

Real asset managers for school districts, colleges, universities and technical schools in the Las Vegas region should take advantage of the opportunity to observe the ICC code-development process during the upcoming ICC Annual Conference in Las Vegas, October 20-23 during which time the Group B c Public Comment Hearings will take place. Even though the IPC has moved farther along the ICC code development process it is still enlightening to observe how it work. The Group B Hearings are usually webcast — and we will signal the link to the webcast when it becomes available — but the experience of seeing how building codes are determined is enlightening when you can watch it live and on site.

Issue: [16-133]

Category: Plumbing, Water, Mechanical

Colleagues: Eric Albert, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel

#StandardsNewMexico

LEARN MORE:

Neutral Public Bathroom Design