New York Regulations
After well over 4 years of political bickering, arguing, and controversy, New York City has finally adapted a new building code for all future structures. The new code, based off of the larger International Building Code (IBC), replaces a fully proprietary code written by New York City officials.

On July 1, 2008, the new building code fully replaced the outstanding code structure. This created a fundamental shift in the way all buildings were designed and constructed within the city limits. Before New York City had a substantially different building code from, not only the rest of the United States, but also from the State of New York, which has created some problems for architects not familiar with the city’s laws and regulations

The Born out of the 9/11 attacks the desire to update the code structure was supported by not just the code officials, but also the architects and engineers who would be designing the new structures. The testimonies of the firefighters, victim’s families, and witnesses fully underscored how important a new building code was to the public.

To comply with the public’s wishes 15 separate commissions comprised of building engineers, contractors, architects, building inspectors and more were formed – in 2002. They had several different model codes (codes used throughout the country) to base the new New York City building code off of. In the end, it was all of the options which delayed the final decision for so long. Portions of the New York city council wanted the International Building Code, others wanted to use the Southern Building Code, and others simply wanted to amend the current code.

After a long half decade of debate, New York Mayor Bloomberg finally presented portions of the new building code; the first major revision since the late 1960’s. Wider stairwells, stronger walls surrounding escape routes, glow in the dark exit signs, and many other safety features were among the requested updates now found in the new building code. Architects and contractors breathed a collective sigh of relief when the new code, based off of the International Building Code, was approved by the council. The new code has been enforced since July 1, 2008.

Even after the code was finally passed, there is plenty of controversy still surrounding the code updates which must be sorted out. The latest safety features in the latest revision of the IBC are exceptionally costly and greatly reduce the ability of developers – and even the federal government – to build new structures or renovate existing buildings. The General Services Administration, the governmental organization which manages federal buildings, has asked the International Code Council (the authors of the IBC) to rescind the latest security features due to their unprecedented cost to tax payers.

According to research done by the New York Times the average costs associated with constructing a 42 story building, such as the new Bank of America building currently under construction, have increased by $13million while developers stand to lose an additional $600,000 due to lost rent as floor space is converted to the stronger walls required by the code.

Like to cause additional complaints from developers is New York City’s plan to require all new buildings to provide secure storage place for bicycles – and a lot of it. New buildings which house more than 10 residential tenants must provide bike storage for 50% of the tenants in the building. So, in New York along with the myriad of other zoned buildings, commercial structures must provide 1 bicycle parking spot for every 7,500 square feet of floor space. The new requirement will face a vote on November 17th, 2008, though it will likely be forced into the court system for a much longer length of time.

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