BBRS Announces Date of 8th Edition Adoption

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) has announced that the 8th edition of the Massachusetts State Building Code will be adopted and available for use on August 6, 2010.  A concurrency period of five or six months, during which permit applications may continue to be filed under the provisions of the 7th edition, will be determined at the August BBRS Board meeting to be held on August 10.  While this adoption applies to the “commercial” code only (multifamily and all non-residential building types), the BBRS has also announced that a draft of the 8th edition of the One and Two Family code will be ready for public hearing in November.

The 8th edition is based on the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) and will include for the first time the adoption of the 2009 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) which will replace Chapter 34 as the basis for requirements in existing buildings.  For the first time all amendments to the national model code will be published as a separate front end document, not edited into a loose-leaf three-ring binder.  The amendments will presumably be available for purchase from the Statehouse Bookstore on or soon after August 6th while the model code books can be purchased on-line from the International Code Council.  Due to the requirements of the Green Communities Act the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is already in effect in Massachusetts.

To learn more about the implications of the 8th Edition or to schedule a free seminar in your office contact Kevin Hastings at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).