Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
BUILDING

TO:

City Council

FROM:

Chief Building Official

SUBJECT:

General Amendments to the Vancouver Building By-law

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

Under the Vancouver Charter, the City may pass By-laws to regulate the construction of buildings and adopt any code relating to the construction of buildings, with any changes that Council considers appropriate.

SUMMARY

This report proposes two sets of amendments to the Building By-law. These amendments may be summarized as follows:

BACKGROUND

As stated in the Council Policy section of this report, the City of Vancouver is enabled under the Vancouver Charter to adopt By-laws to regulate the design and construction of buildings. The Vancouver Building By-law regulates the design and construction for buildings as well as the administrative provisions related to permitting, inspections and enforcement of these requirements.

The Vancouver Building By-law No. 8057 was passed by Council on November 1, 1999. This By-law replaced the previous Building By-law No. 6134 and is based on the 1998 British Columbia Building Code. As directed by Council, the 1998 British Columbia Building Code was adopted as the base By-law and amended to include various requirements that are unique to Vancouver. Some of these requirements include; mandatory sprinklering, accessibility for disabled persons, building security, provisions for existing buildings etc.

Since the printing and distribution of the By-law, there have been several errata and revisions issued by the National Research Council of Canada and the British Columbia Building Standards Branch, as well as some typographic misprints observed in the current By-law as a result of the preparation of the 1999 Vancouver Building By-law. Some of the amendments that are contained within the errata and revisions are related to misprints, however some are associated with technical requirements. The amendments proposed in this report will correct all of the errata that have been observed to date as well as some minor technical changes that are required to administer the By-law more effectively.

DISCUSSION

The amendments that are proposed to the Building By-law may be classified into two categories. The first category includes amendments that are "housekeeping" in nature. These are minor amendments to incorporate all of the required errata and corrections identified to date in the By-law. The second category of amendments involve technical requirements related to fire and life safety provisions of the By-law. It is proposed that many of the minor technical issues be addressed by reverting back to the "Unique to Vancouver" requirements that were contained in the previous Building By-law, No. 6134.

Since the "housekeeping" changes have no impact on the application of the By-law and they are self explanatory in nature they will not be discussed further. A summary and brief explanation of the "housekeeping" amendments may be found in Appendix A. Since the technical amendments propose a change from the current Building By-law as well as the Provincial Building Code, they are discussed below. A summary of the technical amendments may be found in Appendix B.

Licensed Beverage Establishments

Council approved an amendment to the Vancouver Fire By-law with respect to occupant loads for licensed beverage establishments on July 27, 1999. This amendment limits the number of occupants permitted in a licensed beverage establishment by requiring that occupant load be restricted to half that permitted for unlicensed assembly premises. Therefore, it is proposed to similarly amend the Building By-law by requiring that assembly spaces used as licensed beverage establishments require twice the exit capacity of an assembly space that is not classified as a licensed beverage establishment. This proposal was supported by the Police Department as they had concerns related to the numbers of persons within licensed beverage establishments; especially in the downtown eastside.

Since this amendment was approved by Council over one year ago, staff was directed to bring forward complementary changes to the Building By-law, and the new requirement has been enforced by the Fire By-law since July 27, 1999, it was felt that extensive public consultation was not necessary. It is important to note that the development and construction industry have been complying with these requirements since July 27, 1999. In order to have a more consistent approach with respect to building design and construction, the Building By-law should be amended to reflect the current requirements of the Fire By-law.

Unlimited Unprotected Openings for Exterior Walls of Storage Garages Facing a Lane

In order to control the spread of fire from a building to a neighbouring property and/or adjacent building, the Building By-law regulates the amount of unprotected openings permitted on the exterior wall of a building. The Building By-law generally considers doorsand windows to be unprotected openings. In the case of a garage facing a lane, the further the garage is setback from the centre line of the lane, the more unprotected openings are permitted on the exterior wall of the garage which faces the lane. The installation of an overhead garage door generally creates an unprotected opening which accounts for at least 80% of the wall face.

Typically for smaller residential buildings such as one and two family dwellings, the distance from the centre line of a lane to the exterior wall of a detached garage is approximately 3.6 m. At a distance of 3.6 m, the By-law would only permit 26 percent of this wall face to contain unprotected openings. Therefore, based on the current regulations, many existing detached garages having vehicular access from the lane are non-conforming and new garages would only be permitted where they are set back at least 6 m from the centre line of the lane. The Zoning and Development By-law typically does not permit a detached garage serving smaller residential buildings to be set back 3 m from the rear property line (6 m from the centre line of the lane).

To address this unique to Vancouver requirement, the previous Building By-law permitted parking garages serving smaller buildings (buildings with a building height not more than 3 storeys and a building area not more than 600 m2) to contain unlimited unprotected openings where the garage was set back at least 3 m from the centre line of the lane. This relaxation was based on the low fire risks associated with parking garages. Garages used for the storage of vehicles do not typically contain a high fuel load and they are usually located remotely from any other buildings. If a fire was to occur in a parking garage, it is highly unlikely that the fire would spread to an adjacent property across the lane due to the low fuel load associated with the garage as well as its location with respect to other buildings. Therefore, it is recommended that the current Building By-law requirement be amended by reverting back to the "Unique to Vancouver" requirement of the previous By-law.

Construction of Exposing Building Face For Residential Buildings

The current Building By-law requires that residential buildings, containing dwelling units located one above the another, have exterior walls constructed using noncombustible materials, noncombustible cladding and provide a 1 hour fire-resistance rating where they are less than 1.2 m from a property line. This requirement has proven to be very onerous for typical small multiple family residential buildings that are three storeys or less in building height and less than 600 m2 in building area. It is not uncommon for the Zoning and Development By-law to allow these buildings to be located less than 1.2 m from the property line. For cases where the Zoning and Development By-law would permit a building to be located less than 1.2 m from a property line, the Building By-law would require that these walls be constructed using noncombustible material such as concrete, masonry or steel studs. Since many of these forms of residential developments are constructed using conventional wood framing, it is often difficult to incorporate steel studs, concrete or masonry exteriorwalls into the design. Due to the inherent shrinkage property of wood, it is not uncommon for problems to occur in situations where noncombustible structural walls are incorporated into a wood frame building structure.

The previous Building By-law, No. 6134, contained a provision that addressed this requirement. The relaxation allowed the exterior wall of a small residential building to be constructed using typical wood framing when the exterior wall met the following conditions; the wall provided a one hour fire-resistance rating, all voids in the wall were filled with noncombustible insulation, and the exterior sheathing was underlaid with an exterior membrane providing a one hour fire-resistance rating. This relaxation was a unique to Vancouver requirement. It is proposed to amend the current Building By-law by permitting a similar relaxation for multiple family residential buildings that are not more than 3 storeys in building height and 600 m2 in building area. However, due to problems associated with water infiltration and mould growth into the building envelope, the exterior fire rated membrane will not be required behind the exterior cladding. This fire rated membrane is normally achieved using exterior grade gypsum wall board. This type of design is problematic where drainage cavities are used to meet rain screen requirements of the By-law. Noncombustible cladding will still be required for these walls. It should be noted that noncombustible proprietary products are available to building owners who may wish to emulate the appearance of wood siding and shingles.

Direction of Exit Door Swing for Ground Floor Commercial Suites

The current Building By-law requires that all exit doors swing in the direction of egress regardless of the building's occupant load and intended use. This requirement has created many problems for small office and retail suites having access to the street from the ground floor. In Vancouver many of these types of buildings are built up to the property line. Due to legal concerns resulting from possible harm to pedestrians and liability exposure, the City does not permit doors to swing over City property. Therefore, in situations where buildings are built up to the property line, building designers are forced to recess entry doors by creating alcoves. It is not uncommon for buildings to be built up to City sidewalks in many of the commercial districts throughout the City.

These alcoves create accessibility problems for person having disabilities. The Building By-law recognizes that it is difficult for persons with disabilities to manoeuver through doors when they are located in an alcove. For these situations, the By-law requires that additional floor space be provided within the alcove in order to meet accessibility requirements. Since these requirements for accessibility require additional clearances adjacent to entry doors, the amount of floor space available to ground floor units may be reduced.

The Planning Department has expressed concern with respect to building designs which have entry alcoves. These concerns are related to security, safety, and crime issues associatedwith the potential use of these alcoves by other persons. To address this problem, many building owners have installed steel security gates across the alcove. This solution only further compounds the problems as locking steel gates are not permitted by either the Building or Fire By-law due to life safety concerns should a fire trap a person inside the building. Staff believe that an amendment is required to the By-law in order to discourage the use of alcoves in building design.

The previous Building By-law, No. 6134, contained a provision that did not require all exit doors to swing in the direction of exit travel. This provision was only permitted for cases where the exit door did not serve a suite having an occupant load greater than 60 persons and the exit door was located at the ground level. This provision was based on existing Building By-law requirements which allowed suite doors accessed from a public corridor to open inwards. Given the mandatory sprinkler protection of buildings in Vancouver, the re-introduction of this provision is not considered to present any hazard to building occupants.

It is proposed to amend the current Building By-law by not restricting the direction of door swing for entry doors serving individual suites (other than high hazard industrial suites) with an occupant load of less than 60 persons. This will minimize security concerns relating to alcoves while still meeting the intent and objective of the Code.

Access for Fire Department Vehicles

The Building By-law specifies which buildings require access for fire department vehicles. Fire Department access involves the design and construction of streets and access routes leading to a building as well as the location of hydrants. All of these components are required to assist fire fighters with fire fighting operations when responding to a fire condition in a building. The current By-law exempts small buildings (buildings not more than 3 storeys in building height or less than 600 m2 in building area) from requiring fire department access. The previous Building By-law, No. 6134, required that all buildings, other than one and two family dwellings, be provided with access for fire department vehicles. Once again this was a unique to Vancouver requirement.

Due to fire fighting operational procedures within the City, the Fire Department has expressed concern with the lack of access routes for fire fighting vehicles to buildings other than one and two family dwellings as permitted by the current By-law. Considering the fire risks, intended use, occupant load, and type of occupants in many of these buildings, the Fire Department think that it is necessary that access be provided to all buildings other than one and two family dwellings. The Fire Department has made a request to amend the Building By-law such that access for fire department vehicles will be required to all buildings other than one and two family dwellings.

Under the current Building By-law, a hospital or theatre complex would not require access for fire department vehicles where the building is not more than 3 storeys in building height or less than 600 m2 in building area. Many of these buildings contain high occupant loads as well as persons who are not capable of evacuation on their own. Many of the occupants in buildings that are exempted from the requirement for access for fire department vehicles rely on assistance from the fire department during a medical emergency. Without adequate access for fire department vehicles, it is difficult for fire fighters to provide the necessary assistance to building occupants. Therefore, it is proposed that all buildings, other than one and two family dwellings, require access for fire department vehicles. Large one and two family dwellings exceeding 3 storeys in building height or 600 m2 in building area will also require access for fire department vehicles. It should also be noted that the proposed amendment will permit fire department access requirements to be relaxed where the request is acceptable to the Chief Building Official in consultation with the Fire Chief. This relaxation will address industry's concerns for smaller buildings such as concession buildings and washroom buildings located in parks. The proposed amendments are not intended to require access for these types of buildings.

Automatic Sprinkler Protection for Residential Balconies Serving Combustible Buildings

Depending on the number of storeys contained in a residential building, the Building By-law mandates that the design and installation of automatic sprinklers be in accordance with the requirements of either NFPA 13R (Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in Residential Occupancies up to and Including Four Storeys in Height) or NFPA 13 (Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems). NFPA 13R specifically exempts automatic sprinkler protection for exterior balconies while NFPA 13 only requires sprinkler protection for exterior balconies that are more than 1.2 m in width.

The Fire Department has expressed a concern related to the potential fire risks associated with exterior balconies serving residential buildings that are constructed with combustible type construction. These fire risks are related to the potential use of exterior balconies for the storage and/or operation of cooking appliances such as gas bar-be-ques. The Fire Department has made a request to amend the Building By-law to require that automatic sprinkler protection be required for exterior balconies.

Recently, the City of Vancouver Fire Department has reported two exterior balcony fires that spread to other apartments within the building. These fires were caused by the use of gas bar-be-ques on an exterior balcony. Photographs of these fires may be found in Appendix C. The National Research Council of Canada has also expressed concerns related to the spread of fire via exterior balconies. A study carried out by the National Research Council concluded that in a recent apartment fire, fire spread easily to four suites via exterior combustible balconies.

Sprinklers have been recognized as an efficient method of controlling and/or suppressing a fire. Therefore, it is proposed to amend the By-law by requiring that all residential balconies serving combustible buildings be provided with exterior sprinklers. Exterior sprinklers will only be required on balconies where the exterior cladding adjacent to the balcony is combustible. If there is no balcony and the roof overhang is not more than 300 mm (12 inches) above an exterior balcony, the balcony will not require sprinkler protection. It should also be noted that the previous Building By-law, No. 6134, required exterior combustible balconies to have automatic sprinkler protection in order to address this issue.

IMPLEMENTATION

Staff acknowledge the inherent difficulties in trying to incorporate these proposed revisions for buildings designs which are nearing completion. Therefore, in order to avoid new requirements for existing building designs late in the design process, staff recommend that, should Council approve these amendments, they not be enacted for at least 90 days. This should allow sufficient time for staff to inform industry of the proposed amendments as well as time for building owners and/or designers to incorporate these new requirements into their building designs. It should be noted that many of these amendments are intended to provide more flexibility for building designs as well as to provide clarification and corrections to misprints in the current Building By-law. If Council adopts the amendments proposed in this report, they will only be applicable for building permit applications made on or after the enactment date of the By-law amendments.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

This report was circulated to both the Urban Development Institute (UDI) and the Certified Professional Committee (CP Committee) for review and comments. Both groups supported the proposed amendments, however they did have some concern with the technical amendments related to the two Fire Department requests (exterior sprinkler protection for residential balconies and fire department access) as well as the implementation date proposed.

The UDI and CP Committee expressed concerns related to the cost of sprinkler protection for exterior balconies of combustible buildings. The UDI felt that other alternatives such as fire extinguishers should be considered. Staff believe that automatic sprinkler protection provides a much higher level of protection to buildings since activation of the sprinkler system is automatically initiated upon a fire condition. Fire extinguishers cannot provide the same level of protection as occupants may not be on the balcony when a fire condition develops. Considering the low cost of providing a sprinkler head on an exterior balcony (approximately $250.00 to $300.00), staff believe that this is a reasonable solution to mitigate the spread of fire between dwelling units.

The CP Committee expressed concern with the proposed fire department access amendment. Some members of the CP Committee think that this request is not reasonable as it is more restrictive than both the National Building Code of Canada and the British Columbia Building Code. Staff recognize that this amendment is more restrictive than the provisions of these model Codes, however fire department access requirements in these codes are generic in nature since they must be applied to jurisdictions that range from very small municipalities to large urban centres. The explanatory material in the Building By-law states that the specific operational needs of the Fire Department must be considered when determining fire department requirements. The Fire Department has specifically expressed concern with access to many of the buildings currently exempted from the Building By-law. It should be noted that the proposed provisions may be relaxed for smaller buildings where the Chief Building Official and Fire Chief believe that access is not warranted. This relaxation should address the concerns of some CP Committee members with respect to access to smaller buildings such as concession buildings and public washrooms located in parks.

The Urban Development Institute expressed concern with the implementation date proposed in this report. The report originally proposed that these amendments, if adopted by Council, be enacted in 60 days. The UDI felt that 60 days did not provide sufficient time for designers and/or building owners to incorporate the amendments proposed in this report. Typically amendments to the BC Building Code come into effect 90 days after they have been adopted. Therefore, the report has been revised such that if Council adopts the proposed amendments, they will be enacted 90 days after Council approves the amendments. Should Council adopt these amendments, staff will provide notification to industry of the amendments as soon as possible. It should be noted that if these provisions are adopted by Council, they will only be required for building permit applications submitted on or after the enactment date of the Building By-law amendment. Building permit applications that are submitted prior to this enactment date will not be affected by these proposed amendments.

The CP Committee also had concerns with the proposed amendment to address occupant loads in licensed beverage establishments. Some members of the CP Committee think that this Building By-law amendment should only apply to buildings in the downtown eastside where the concern is the greatest. Staff believe that By-law requirements must be applied equally to all areas of the City. The Building By-law cannot apply only to certain geographic regions within the City. It should also be noted that industry has been complying with these provisions in the Fire By-law since July 27, 1999.

CONCLUSION

The proposed amendments to the Vancouver Building By-law represent an improvement over the current By-law. The proposed amendments include changes to correct misprints in the By-law as well as other minor technical requirements to help with the permitting,inspection and enforcement of the By-law. Many of the amendments are also required in order to bring the Building By-law up to date with the errata, revisions and updates issued for both the National Building Code of Canada and the British Columbia Building Code. Since these changes are not considered to be controversial in nature or were included in the previous Building By-law, extensive public consultation was not sought. However, the report has been circulated to members of the Certified Professional Committee as well as the Urban Development Institute for comments. The comments received from the UDI and CP Committee have been reviewed and some of the amendments have been revised based on their concerns. Many of these changes such as unlimited unprotected openings for garages, construction of exterior walls for small residential buildings, and direction of exit door swing for ground level suites will provide greater flexibility for designers in order to meet the requirements of the Vancouver Building By-law. Staff believe that amendments related to fire department access, and automatic sprinkler protection on exterior balconies will increase the level of fire safety intended by the Building By-law.

LINK TO APPENDIX A

LINK TO APPENDIX B

LINK TO APPENDIX C

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