Survey of National Building Codes in the Commonwealth

The study arose as the result of a Fact-Finding Survey undertaken among members of the CAA’s Knowledge Sharing Partnership, published in July 2024, 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. The design and implementation of effective National Building Codes is crucially important for creating safe, resilient and sustainable communities, including:

• Public Health: Effective building codes address a variety of health-related issues such as ventilation, electrical safety, water supply, adequate sanitation etc
• Public Safety: Effective building codes help to ensure that building structures are designed and constructed to be robust thereby reducing the risk of injury and fatalities.
• Energy Efficiency: Effective building codes help to achieve energy efficiency, thereby reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions
• Construction Quality: Effective building codes provide a benchmark for construction quality, ensuring that all buildings meet minimum safety and performance standards..
• Investment value and running costs: Effective building codes produce significant cost savings over time by reducing repairs and insurance premiums. A transparent and efficient building control process also provides assurance for investors.
• Resilience: Effective building codes reduce the risk of damage due to climate impacts and natural disasters, allowing communities to recover more quickly and reducing losses.

This survey therefore 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 and/or lack of resources, leading to a failure of implementation and enforcement

The survey reveals that these issues are especially acute among low-middle income countries, many of which are experiencing rapid urbanisation and are among the most vulnerable to climate impacts.

The delivery of effective building codes requires leadership from central and local government together with active engagement from all members of the supply chain including built environment professionals, contractors and material producers together with local standards and safety agencies.

The CAA is engaging with the findings of the survey in a number of different ways.

• It is leveraging its programme of continuing professional development to help promote awareness of the issues while also sharing knowledge, and has recently hosted an event on ‘Making Building Codes Work’.
• Working with colleagues from the Commonwealth Association of Planners and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, it has developed a collaboration with the Legislation & Governance section of UN-Habitat to create a Legal Checklist for Cities which will enable cities to identify where strengthening is required.
• It remains actively supportive of the work of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction and of the Buildings Breakthrough which aims to making near-zero emissions and climate resilient buildings the new normal by 2030.

The CAA and its member organisations and stand ready to support member states with this vitally important work.