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Last month, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the first state to adopt International Code Council and Modular Building Institute Standards 1200 and 1205.
The Code Recommendation contains regulatory approaches to off-site construction and is intended to create uniformity in the off-site construction process.
As the industry increasingly uses off-site construction for projects like hotels and affordable housing, adopting the code is a step in the right direction, said Ryan Colker, vice president of innovation at the ICC. at Construction Dive.
Here, Colker talks to Construction Dive about what code adoption means for builders in and around Virginia, as well as the likelihood that the standards will become more mainstream.
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
What does the new code mean for Virginia builders?
Ryan Colker
Permission granted by the International Code Council (ICC)
RYAN COLKER: We saw off-site construction as a great opportunity to address a whole range of different issues: accessibility, sustainability and workforce issues that the construction industry is seeing. Thirty-nine states regulate off-site construction at the state level, including Virginia.
Therefore, recognizing the importance of a consistent regulatory approach to off-site construction, ICC developed standards in conjunction with the Modular Building Institute to capture best practices on how off-site construction is verified. And so Virginia incorporated into its program these two new ICCMBI standards—standards 1200 and 1205—to strengthen its program.
I mean, they had already been doing a lot of the things that are covered in the standards, but recognizing that having consistency across states and localities unlocks even more potential off-site. So they went ahead and took that step.
What do standards do?
In general, off-site must meet the same requirements as a site-constructed building. Therefore, they are already included within the building code. The standards themselves really shape the process. So if you think about off-site construction that’s happening in a factory, it’s very different from a site-built project where an inspector can come every day if they want, and get behind the walls, see what’s going on.
In off-site construction, what appears on the job site are very finished walls that are closed off, and it’s not really practical for a local inspector to really understand or know what’s behind the walls. Therefore, offsite construction standards really set the process for ensuring that offsite construction meets code requirements.
Bringing the inspection process back to the factory, ensuring that there is a quality assurance program and how that inspection occurs, who is qualified to do those inspections, and then how that is reported to the state. And ultimately, what do local officials do with all this information.
If I’m a builder in or around Virginia, what does this mean for me?
If you’re already working in Virginia, there’s not much of a difference. What we’re really trying to say is say a manufacturing facility is in a neighboring state and you want to be able to deliver to several different states within a region. If there is consistency in the verification process, this creates efficiencies in the factory.
I have read that Utah is also considering adopting the code. Is this the case?
potentially Utah is an interesting story. Salt Lake City was actually the first to adopt the off-site standards, while Virginia has a state program, Utah does not, so it leaves the entire off-site construction process up to local officials.
So if you think about a local official trying to deal with an off-site construction project when they may not have had industry exposure, they don’t necessarily have a process to do that like some states do. So it becomes a one-off, project-by-project commitment, and doesn’t unlock the value it delivers off-site. Salt Lake recognized this and, like many places with an affordable housing problem, saw offsite as a strategy.
Since then, there has been a lot of interest in Utah for off-site construction. So legislation was introduced earlier this year to establish a standards-based state program.
Is the adoption of standards like these a step towards making off-site construction more common?
Absolutely. Off-site is inherently an efficient process and regulatory parts could be a barrier. Especially in states that don’t have state programs, it’s a challenge. So having standards in place helps move that forward.
We’ve also seen interest in other states. Ohio is actually in the process of updating their regulatory requirements for off-site construction, and in their draft they have incorporated parts of the 1205 standard.
In the Maui wildfire recovery effort, Hawaii does not have a state program, but FEMA and Maui County have submitted a request for proposal for modular recovery housing and cited the standards as a compliance mechanism . So, a lot of interest. We’ll see where it goes.
