Commercial Buildings and the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code (WCBC) Updates

As we approach the fall season, I thought it would be a good time to update you on things that are happening in the Division of Safety & Buildings.

Even though the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code (WCBC) was recently updated to use the 2006 editions of the I-Codes, our efforts to stay as up-to-date as possible with the codes we use in Wisconsin have us working diligently toward the next generation. We fully understand the codes can be no more static than the industry itself. Accordingly, we have been working toward the use of the 2009 editions of the same I-Codes that currently make up the WCBC.

Activity at the national level to update the codes has been underway since 2006 and will culminate in Minneapolis beginning September 13, when the International Code Council (ICC) will hold the final hearings on the proposed changes to the current editions of the I-Codes - changes that will ultimately become the 2009 editions. Those model codes will likely be available in print in early 2009.

On August 7, the two main advisory committees, the Commercial Building Code Council and the Multifamily Dwelling Code Council, came together to assist us in our development efforts. We provided members with updates on the code change packages that are currently in the works, as well as on longer-range activities.

One of the main projects is the aforementioned cyclical update to the WCBC, moving to the 2009 editions of the I-Codes. That project will likely result in increased council activity beginning in February or March of 2009.

Public hearings on that project are not expected to take place before the fall of 2009 and we do not expect that next routine update of the WCBC to go into effect until the spring of 2010.

-- J.B. Smith, P.E.