Council Mandated Policies
The City of Vancouver is enabled under the Vancouver Charter to adopt By-laws to regulate the design and construction of buildings. The Vancouver Building By-law regulates the design and construction for buildings as well as the administrative provisions related to permitting, inspections, and the enforcement of these requirements.
Vancouver’s ability to adopt its own Building By-law is unique in the Province of British Columbia. This ability allows City Council the opportunity to quickly respond to issues having an impact on building safety within the City. This ability has provided the City of Vancouver the opportunity to be a leader with respect to building regulations. The following provides a summary of some of the more significant building regulations that Council has responded to over the years:
Accessibility
In November 2001 Council approved a number of amendments to the Building By-law aimed at improving access to all residential units, common amenity areas and washrooms located in multi-family residential buildings containing 3 or more dwelling units, a shared public corridor and an elevator.
These amendments are designed to provide a series of modest accessibility improvements to multi-family residential buildings at minimal cost embodying some of the concepts of universal design. They are intended to enable disabled persons to visit and socialize with people in their homes. The amendments also include simple provisions which will facilitate future adaptation of a dwelling unit so that the unit may be occupied by a person with a range of physical mobility restrictions and are intended to extend the length of time that an elderly person may remain safely in their own home.
Alterations to Existing Buildings
In order to assist with the renovation and rehabilitation of existing buildings, the Vancouver Building By-law contains alternative code requirements intended for existing buildings. These requirements also specify the level of building code upgrade required for existing buildings when work is being carried out.
Previously the level of upgrade required is primarily based on the proposed value of construction with respect to the buildings assessed value. The level of upgrade using this trigger mechanism can be unduly onerous if an existing building has a low assessment value. In order to provide greater clarity, flexibility and discretion when applying the By-law to existing buildings, Council approved a new trigger mechanism which is based on “categories of work” rather than monetary value to determine the acceptable level of By-law upgrade to an existing Building.
Artist Live/Work Studios
In order to address the demand for this unique occupancy within the City of Vancouver, the Building By-law defines two types of Artist Live/Work Studios, Class A (Low Impact) and Class B Artist Studios (High Impact). This type of occupancy is not normally permitted under other model building codes used in Canada. The current Building By-law specifically permits Artist Studios in conjunction with Group C residential occupancies provided the building meets specific construction criteria.
Energy Utilization
Effective September 1, 2004, in order to address concerns related to Energy Utilization in buildings, Council mandated that buildings within the City of Vancouver be designed to meet energy utilization requirements the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 - 2001. Buildings built under building permit applications prior to September 1, 2004 have to meet either the 1977 National Energy Code of Canada for Buildings or the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 - 1989.
Rain Screen Cladding Systems
In order to address concerns related to building envelope failures within wood frame buildings, Council mandated that these buildings be designed using rainscreen technology. Subsequently this requirement has been widely emulated throughout the Province of BC. The Vancouver Building By-law mandates that a building envelope professional provide field reviews and letters of assurance related to the design of a building's exterior cladding. The Vancouver Building By-law includes a Schedule D-2, Completion of Building Envelope Professional Review letter of Assurance.
Sprinklered Buildings
In order to address life safety issues resulting from fire deaths, Council passed a By-law in April of 1990 which required all new residential buildings including one and two family dwellings to be fully sprinklered. In 1996 Council passed a further By-law to extend this mandatory sprinkler policy to all new buildings with the exception of small accessory type buildings less than 100 sq m in area and some temporary buildings.
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