Building Codes
The National Codes of Canada

The National Codes of Canada are model documents only.

A province, territory or municipality must adopt them as regulations. A model code is used as is or modified to suit local needs. It then becomes part of the book of standard construction regulations for that province.

The National Building Code of Canada is also referred to as NBC. The NBC is a book of the Canadian building regulations for the construction industry. The focus is safety, health, accessibility, and fire and structural protection of buildings.

The NBC sets the standards for:

· Structural design
· Heating, ventilating and air conditioning
· Plumbing services
· Safety measures at construction and demolition sites
· Housing and small buildings
· Fire protection and occupancy safety
· Accessibility for the Handicapped

The current NBC 1995 has been updated. The NBC 2005 version will be available at the end of September 2005. It will be available in a soft cover or binder version. A CD -ROM version is currently in the process.

The NBC 2005 edition has renamed the current term of “minimum requirements” to “acceptable solutions”. This edition is in an objective based format. It provides all acceptable solutions to its objective of safety, health, accessibility, fire and structural protection of buildings. It states the intent an acceptable solution is to achieve, in order to comply with the code.

The National Building Code is prepared by the “Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes”. It is published by the National Research Council of Canada.

Publication Sales
National Research Council Canada
Institute for Research In Construction
1200 Montreal Road, Bldg. M-58
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6
Phone: 613-993-2463
Or: 1-800-672-7990

The National Fire Code Of Canada
The National Plumbing Code of Canada
The National Electric Code of Canada
National Farm Building Code of Canada
National Housing Code, National Energy Code
Provincial Building Codes