Climate change rewrites to the National Building Code will have a cost impact, the National Research Council warned yesterday. The Council said it will hire consultants to calculate the additional expense for new home construction..“The Council wishes to better understand the implications of the recommended Code changes on typical building designs across Canada,” the Council wrote in a notice to contractors. “The particular area of focus relates to the potential change in material quantities and associated costs for the primary and secondary structural systems required using both the current and the proposed Code provisions.”.The Canadian Home Builders Association in a 2018 submission to the House of Commons natural resources committee said a climate Code would cost up to $30,000 on average..The Council said it will pay a Guelph, Ont. contractor $265,000 to come up with a cost estimate by next March 16. “Wind and snow loads will be calculated using the provisions of the 2020 National Building Code as well as those proposed that account for the potential impacts of climate change,” said the notice Impact Assessment Study Of Climate Change Provisions For Structural Design Of Buildings..Managers said they wanted “comparisons of total costs using both the current provisions of the National Building Code and proposed Code provisions considering the impacts of climate change with a final report including the cost impact.”.“For a typical 2,100 square foot single detached home the additional cost to reach net zero-ready averages just over $30,000 nationally,” said Kevin Lee, CEO of the Association. “For a more modest 1,600 square foot townhome the cost increases about $17,000 depending on the configuration.”.“Until we talk real numbers we can’t talk reality,” said Lee. “It’s not enough to say we’ll just regulate something. We need real solutions.”.Federal regulators have promised changes to the National Building Code would not compel owners of 14 million existing homes to pay for refits. “It is not mandated that everyone refit their homes,” Frank Lohmann, manager of Building Code development at the National Research Council, said in a 2019 interview..The Canadian Real Estate Association in a 2018 submission to the Senate energy committee said forcing homeowners to renovate would be expensive. “Will your home ever be energy efficient like homes built today? We don’t think so,” said Dina McNeil, director of government relations for Association. “We have to make sure those homes are not impacted and homeowners don’t lose all the equity they’ve built over time.”
