CAA publishes a Survey of National Building Codes across the Commonwealth.

The CAA has published a Survey of National Building Codes across the Commonwealth, undertaken by among members of its Knowledge Sharing Partnership, which identified the failure to design, implement and/or enforce built environment legislation as one of the key barriers to sustainable urbanisation across the Commonwealth.

This survey represents an attempt to understand the underlying issues so that the CAA and its member organisations can identify where strengthening is required so they can better support member states with this vitally important work.

The results of the survey highlight a range of systemic issues with the development of national building codes across a number of Commonwealth countries, including, for some or all:

• The absence of a mandatory national building code.
• The adoption of codes which may not be appropriate for local culture, economy, climate or practice
• The absence of a coordinating body to unify the work of different agencies.
• Scope gaps in existing codes, including a failure to define mandatory energy performance and/or material and workmanship standards.
• The need for codes to be more regularly updated to better reflect global policy priorities, such a climate change, and changes in materials and manufacturing.
• Lack of technical and professional experience, leading to a failure of implementation and enforcement

The survey reveals that these issues are especially acute among Overseas Development Assistance recipient (ODA) countries, many of which are experiencing rapid urbanisation and are among the most vulnerable to climate impacts.