Natural calamities of the scale and magnitude of the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria not only cause immense loss of human and animal life but also cause irreparable damage to the built environment. An estimated 24,921 buildings have been destroyed or damaged in Turkey alone in the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and the death toll is now at 46,000 people dead and still mounting. 

Soon after the devastation, questions have been raised about the quality of the construction and poorly enforced building standards in the cities that have been decimated in the quake. Turkey has building codes which require new construction to be earthquake resilient. This came about after the 1999 Izmit earthquake that claimed over 17,000 lives. 

Such situations bring the focus on regulatory bodies as well as organisations that take up the mantle to set and continuously evaluate standards for safe built environments. The International Code Council (ICC) is a leading global authority on building safety solutions and model codes and standards. The ICC has a family of eight organisations which are dedicated to the construction of safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures.

The ICC recently announced its regional office in Dubai – the first such outpost outside the U.S. with a workshop on a safety-first approach towards new and innovative building systems. The ICC has been involved in projects in the region for more than 27 years and several jurisdictions including the UAE and Saudi Arabia use their international codes as the basis for their building safety regulations.

In 2012, Abu Dhabi government, through its Department of Municipal Affairs, introduced the Abu Dhabi International Building Codes, which are based on the International Codes (I-Codes) developed by the International Code Council to be the standard guide in the development of construction projects in the Emirate. 

Dominic Sims, CEO at ICC explained, “We have had a presence in the MENA region for a long time actually. During my visit here in 2019, I heard a lot from our customers and stakeholders in the region that we needed to be here with some sort of physical presence to support them which is what motivated us.” 

Here is an in depth conversation with Dominic Sims, Chief Executive Officer, International Code Council & Shahin Moinian, PE, Executive Vice President, Conformity Assessment Group.

Q: How will ICC look at the disaster of the built environment in Turkey and Syria? 

DS: With more than 60,000 members worldwide – from government officials, architects and engineers to contractors and students – the International Code Council develops model codes and standards used worldwide to construct safe, sustainable, affordable and resilient structures. Using our members as a resource and pulling their knowledge from across the globe is what makes us successful. We learn about best practices, we look at lessons learned. I think we will be deploying a team to Turkey as soon as the immediacy of the disaster is behind us, along with other organizations that will go there to learn what we can about how to make buildings safer.  One of the key ingredients for building safety is applying codes and standards.  It is not just writing a code or producing a standard or certifying a product, it is going all the way. From the start of the life cycle – building safety starts with codes and standards of proper design, proper construction and proper oversight of the of the building process which means an enforcement of building codes. There will be some lessons in Turkey, which will happen after the rescue efforts have wound down. We will then put that knowledge together and use that knowledge to produce newer codes to evaluate products.

Q: How does ICC help in creating a resilient built environment? 

DS: There was a hurricane just last year in Florida - Hurricane Ian. Since ICC operates in the state, we have been evaluating the building codes which are adopted in Florida and these codes focused a lot on wind resistance. The state updated the codes to the international codes around the year 2000 roughly and there's a distinct difference in building performance in buildings built before and buildings built after during Hurricane Ian. This has resulted in the government looking into or considering a retrofit for buildings to make them more hurricane resistant. It is important to remember that building codes have to be enforced and for regulations to be used in the built environment for them to perform as intended. 

SM: Codes are a living documents that keep getting better. As experiences happen, unfortunately, some more tragic, but as experiences happen, the codes get better. Our codes go through a three year cycle, and hence what we have is an updated document that has brought in the learning from the recent past to be applied across the built environment.  

Q: How has ICC Evaluation Service collaborated with jurisdictions in the MENA region to streamline the process for enabling the safe and compliant use of innovative building technologies?

DS: There are many stakeholders involved in this process. The municipalities when they see a new product, they might recognise it as innovative, but due to lack of information, certification and other requirements, they would not be comfortable with it. Hence manufacturer comes to us, and we have our own evaluation and certification levels where we try to add a level of comfort level for the manufacturers. We have a system through which we can write a normative document which we call an acceptance criteria, which is similar to the European assessment documents, and it covers a variety of things that has to do with the performance of the products from fire to seismic to a lot of low capacities and things of that nature. After the criteria is written or if there is one in existence, we ask the manufacturer to conduct testing and we want to make sure the testing is done at a proficient laboratory. 

Then we evaluate them through manufacturing, location, inspection. We did that at the very beginning to look at the quality system, and after that, we look at the products, and we do it twice a year, so basically, the certification process is a group we keep going. We make sure that the product that we reviewed is going to be produced in the same manner. 

But the best part of what we do, and we need to do more of is we need to educate the jurisdictions to understand that this work is very good for the built environment, and it holds the manufacturers responsible for the quality, and we have everyone comfortable with the new product.

When it comes to new and innovative products, jurisdictions are not comfortable because they've never seen it before. In this instance, two things happen. First is to educate, but two is in an organization like International Code Council that has the reputation for quality, has a reputation for other goods, is then evaluating it so it goes hand in glove, and when the two happen, eventually the jurisdictions come around and accept it. Jurisdictions like innovative products, they just want to have a means to be able to approve for this choice. 

Q: How are you collaborating with the different jurisdictions in our region? 

SM: We have been working with the Dubai Municipality on 3D printing. As the UAE works to get to Net-zero, the construction process will need to become greener and there is already a requirement for a certain percentage of the buildings to be built using 3D printing technology. The ICC has a criteria for that and we are looking to make it a little bit more solidified. The criteria is well put together, it covers a number of things – the sheer strength between the different layers when concrete goes around, it also looks into the reinforcement, it also looks into the robot itself, the calibration of the robot as well, also the mix of the concrete is a little different than what you see. These are being looked into with the Dubai Municipality along with our organisation. They have fantastic engineers and we have fantastic engineers and this collaboration is going to help both of us in our operation. 

Q: How has setting up a system of building regulations and compliance enabled continuous improvement around the world, including in the MENA region?

DS: One of the things we do is help break down barriers to trade. The MENA region is engaged in the world economy, both importing and exporting, and there are regulatory barriers in terms of construction, safety design, product evaluation. I think we take some comfort in knowing that the role that the International Code Counsel is playing is helping to make sure that there is somewhat of a level playing field when it comes to building safety and building products and a uniformity of standards.

One of the areas of interest for ICC as an organization is retrofits because of the demand for reaching to Net-zero. It is a challenge and retrofitting is never easy because building owners oftentimes have to foot the cost. What we try to do is take a common-sense approach. Based on our experience where we're able to help jurisdictions, help countries and communities figure out what are the best practices when it comes to retrofitting. 

Q: Have you brought in 3D printing under the ICC’s ambit? 

SM: The document is finalised and has been finalised for a couple of years now. We worked with the manufacturer and have put this document together, which has been looked at by a committee, and has been approved. It has gone through one revision so far and we have at least one manufacturer certified. This producer is based in Dubai.