Farm building code update gets thumbs up
An initiative to update Canada’s farm building construction code has been met with approval from a national organization of builders.
A representative of the Canadian Farm Builders’ Association (CFBA) was included in a group that made recommendations for updates to the National Farm Building Code of Canada, which was last published in 1995.
The group, a joint task force of the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) and the Provincial/Territorial Policy Advisory Committee on Codes, submitted its report in June after four meetings. The recommendations will receive further review before the CCBFC votes on their inclusion and begins work on the technical details.
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The report suggests the group complete technical development next year in time for a public review of any changes in 2014 and publication the following year.
Key among the recommendations is a distinction between small and large farm buildings. The report finds the 1995 code is more suited to small farm buildings and not larger, modern facilities.
It recommends changing the definition of a small farm building to three stories or less or an area of less than 600 sq. metres, reflecting the changing face of agriculture and the larger size of many livestock facilities.
“The big thing for the farm building community is that they’re addressing this,” said CFBA president Gary Van Bolderen.“That’s very important to protect the interest of the agricultural industry and the farmers as opposed to just lumping them in with condos and houses and schools and shopping malls.”
The impetus for the update came from the CCBFC, said Anne Gribbon of the commission, which updated the National Building Code in 2005.
She said the organization saw a need to “synchronize” the documents because they refer to one another. For example, the newer code established one-in-50-year loads as the basis for snow and wind over one-in-30 year loads.
“The disconnect between the NFBC 1995, which references the design provision in the NBC 1995, and the current edition of the NBC create unprecedented conflicts for designers,” said the group’s report.
The task group recommends that provinces and territories be allowed to opt out of adopting the building code.
Manitoba adopted its own code for farm buildings in 2010, following the lead of other provinces, including British Columbia, Ontario and Sask-atchewan.
The report estimates that 35 percent of Canadian farms are in jurisdictions that use the NFBC.
“(The National Research Council), with the support of the provinces and territories, offers a service of model codes to the provinces and territories, which they can choose to adopt with modification or adapt as their own code,” said Gribbon.
“All it is is a model being brought forward for them to choose to do with it as they see fit.”
No new requirements for energy and water-use efficiency are included among the recommendations.
Van Bolderen said an updated code is important to keeping the needs of producers and the unique demands of farm buildings clearly defined.
“We were originally very concerned that the National Farm Building Code may just disappear,” he said.
“Our concern is that the farm builders’ structures and what customers want are completely different than the industrial building or a residential building or a school or a hospital.”
