In mid-March, New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen signed a statewide building code into law. The legislation requires that all construction follow a new state building code, referencing the 2000 International Codes™.

In the past, jurisdictions in New Hampshire followed the BOCA National Building Code, but no specific edition was required. Neighboring cities and towns often referenced two different editions of the code — often creating confusion for the builders, who had to adhere to different, sometimes out-of-date requirements when working in multiple municipalities.

The 2000 International Building Code®, developed by the International Code Council® and its statutory members — Building Officials and Code Administrators International, Inc. (BOCA), the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), and the Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc. (SBCCI) — is being adopted by jurisdictions across the U.S.

“It’s an important piece of legislation,” said Mike Santa, president, New Hampshire Building Officials Association. “This is something that our association supported because we believe there was a problem in the way we used to adopt codes.

“With every community able to adopt a different edition of the BOCA code, you had a lot of confusion in the building industry,” he said. “It wasn’t easy for the architects and builders. For the building officials, this is going to make it a lot easier for training and enforcement.”

The mandatory New Hampshire building code will adopt the 2000 International Building Code, 2000 International Plumbing Code®, 2000 International Mechanical Code®, and 2000 International Energy Conservation Code® by reference, effective Sept. 14, 2002 — 180 days after the legislation passes.

Publication date: 04/15/2002