As the temperatures are soaring across the province, WorkSafeBC’s new Heat stress screening tool is now available on the resources section of the Heat stress page on worksafebc.com.
Users can use this interactive tool to plan for hot weather and evaluate when workers may be at risk of heat stress and when to implement effective controls.
Hot Town, Summer in the City! What’s going on at Vancouver City Hall? As noted in the weekend’s GRU, a lot…
Vancouver Sun’s Dan Fumano sits down with new Vancouver Chief City Planner Josh White, to discuss his plans and goals in the role.
The City of Vancouver adopted a policy this week to relax its decades-old view cone policy with City staff projecting it will free up anywhere between 8.1 million and 54 million square feet of development capacity. The change is not without controversy, however, as many are worried about the harms being done to their views of the mountains.
This piece from Kerry Gold discusses options for the City of Vancouver to speed up approval times for new new developments , as it looks to reach its 3-month goal for approvals for mid-rises.
National Building Code 2020 Proposed Updates
While the BC Government is making excellent strides in addressing accessibility through the BCBC 2024, the Federal Government is now proposing updates to the National Building Codes (NBC) 2020 to include further direction on ensuring access to all the main living spaces in any visitable dwelling unit, for both residents and visiting family and friends.
These proposed changes only apply to dwelling units in multi-unit residential buildings that are required by federal, provincial, or municipal authority to be designed to be visitable. They do not apply to detached houses, semi-detached houses, houses with a secondary suite, duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, row houses or boarding houses.
What does this mean? Should the provincial or municipal authorities have the final decision-making authority on this? This is a similar situation to BC’s adaptable dwelling units, where the provincial government chose to apply the requirements to 100% of units. Should these proposed changes apply similiarly?
Out of the many proposed changes, there are two that are of concern to HAVAN and its members. Firstly, addressing path of travel, the entrance level of these dwelling units shall be designed to have the following:
- A path of travel with a clear width not less than 1000mm (39”)
- Doorways with a clear width not less than 850mm (33”) when the door is in the open position
- Thresholds no greater than 13mm and beveled in accordance with NBC accessibility requirements.
What does this mean? This may provide challenges for builder/developers complying with low thresholds due to water ingress, particularly with balconies.
Secondly, the proposed changes introduces minimum requirements for clear floor space in at least one washroom on the entrance level of a visitable dwelling unit to accommodate a wider range of wheeled mobility aids. Two key components of the proposed change include:
- A lavatory with a centre line that is at least 460mm (18”) from an adjacent side wall, to permit access to the lavatory;
- Round clear floor space having a minimum diameter of 1500mm (60”) to allow a person using a wheelchair to enter the washroom, turn around and close the door.
What does this mean? Dwelling units may have to be designed to be slightly larger than already required in the new BCBC Adaptability Code, with washrooms similar to fully accessible washrooms, rather than allowing the potential for future accessibility by the owners if/when required. This could have a detrimental effect on the affordability of these new homes.
These proposed changes are not insignificant. Our colleagues at the Urban Development Institute weigh in with their concerns and the City of Vancouver has delayed implementation of its own building code to May 2026 as per the Globe and Mail.
Have your say and share your concerns. Submissions on this round of public review will be closed on July 29 and MURB builders/developers are encouraged to provide feedback to the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes.
HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together to address the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
Looking to stay up-to-date on Metro Vancouver’s residential housing industry? Sign up for Ron’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
QUICK BITES …
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GREEN SHEETS ON THE GO!
HAVAN member Green Sheet Construction Data tracks the Metro Vancouver construction market. Their online searchable database provides clients with a powerful tool to see past, current, and future construction projects across the Lower Mainland. Visit Green Sheet Hot Tips to view this month’s featured projects.
- Our colleagues at CHBA BC are looking to fill a new position of Policy Advisor, Codes and Standards.
