IGCC Final Action Hearings Prove Successful for BOMA

BOMA San Francisco Members:

The final public hearings to determine the content of the 2012 International Green Construction Code (IGCC) wrapped up last Sunday in Phoenix and BOMA secured approval for most of our major objectives. 

The new IGCC is set to be published in March 2012 and will be available for local and state jurisdictional adoption and implementation at that time. BOMA’s codes advocacy staff worked with other real estate trade groups and local building officials to support significant modifications to the Version 2.0 draft of the code that will make it more user–friendly and less onerous for the commercial real estate industry.

BOMA led efforts to approve making IGCC an “overlay” to the minimum health and safety construction codes with restrictions so that no permits are to be issued under the IGCC alone. We also received overwhelming support from building officials for making ASHRAE’s green code, Standard 189.1, available at the project owner’s discretion as an alternate compliance path.

Highlights of the hearing results on BOMA’s other major objectives include: 

• Deletion of the entire section governing "service life" terms for equipment, systems and whole buildings ranging from 60 to 200 years; 
• Deletion of requirements mandating more efficient portable tenant appliances and devices, such as computers and printers; 
• Elimination of the mandatory 14–day whole building interior air flush–out prior to occupancy; 
• Deletion of mandates on owners requiring periodic reporting on green operations and maintenance procedures, and requirements to maintain operations and maintenance records on–site throughout the life of the building; and 
• Elimination of the requirements for retroactive code compliance inspections triggered by the sale of a building.