The International Code Council (ICC) Board of Directors recently announced they have established an ad hoc committee focused entirely on the building science of tall wood buildings. The term tall wood applies to wood construction which uses cross-laminated timber (CLT) and is 6 stories or taller.
The scope of the ad hoc committee is to “investigate the feasibility of and take action on developing proposed changes to the International Codes or I-Codes for tall wood buildings” and ” is expected to continue through the 2018/2019/2020 Code Development Cycle.” This means the committee could submit code changes for the 2021 International Building Code.
In their press release calling for applications for the committee, Board President Alex “Cash” Olszowy, III said, “The ICC Board carefully considered more than 160 comments from stakeholders prior to establishing this committee…Many of the comments emphasized the need for ICC to comprehensively investigate all aspects of this new construction technology, acknowledging its design flexibility, significant sustainability attributes, and the potential economic impact to our nation’s built environment.”