Wendy Macdonald

Changes to British Columbia’s building code are geared to elevating the sustainability of buildings in the key areas of energy, materials and climate resilience. Wendy Macdonald, with RJC Engineers, spoke about updates to B.C.’s building code which were implemented last year and others being discussed for implementation in 2024 and 2025. …Changes to the code that took effect in May 2023 affected energy efficiency targets and the Zero Carbon Step Code. From March 2024, one living space per building must not exceed 26 C. The proposed change that may take place as early as spring 2024 would allow for taller mass timber buildings. A seismic requirements code change that will take place after March 2025 addresses embodied carbon. …“As mandates and requirements start to show up around limiting the emissions from embodied carbon,” she said, “I think the fact that the BC Building Code is allowing more mass timber will help support teams in achieving those targets.”