When a building is built or re-developed, it is done under the auspices of a model building code applied by the jurisdiction where the building is located. Depending on the date of construction or major renovation, a specific dated edition of the building code will apply. The level of the renovation may dictate that the entire building be considered “new construction,” or the specific area being renovated may have to be “brought up to code.”

Through the years, there have been a number of different building codes that were applied on a loose geographic basis. Much of the country today uses the International Code Council family of documentsThe International Code Council family of documents consists of the International Building Code (IBC), the International Fire Code (IFC), the International Mechanical Code (IMC), and the International Plumbing Code (IPC).. Additionally, many jurisdictions wrote their own documents and instituted them as enforceable building codes, or they adopted parts of a model building code, and modified them for their own application.

NFPA has also written and published a building code, NFPA 5000. As NFPA publishes a number of other codes and standards, NFPA 5000 references other NFPA documents to augment the requirements of their building code.

NOTE: This is an unformatted excerpt from our online fire protection training library.