The International Code Council (ICC) and the Alliance for National and Community Resilience (ANCR) released a pilot document laying out their community resilience benchmarks on buildings. First in a planned series of community benchmarks, the groups’ Community Resilience Benchmarks system focuses on providing communities with a mechanism to evaluate their resilience and a guide for improvements.
The document provides specific guidelines for increasing the safety, sustainability and resilience of communities’ building stock. It offers benchmarks consisting of nine requirements aimed at increasing the resilience of communities, including the adoption, administration and enforcement of building codes. In particular, the benchmarks encourage local governments to adopt building codes and to provide the human, technical and financial resources necessary to support permitting, plan review and inspections.
“A holistic approach to identifying and incorporating resilience measures into a community’s building stock, including the adoption of the latest building codes, supports the mitigation of damage from natural disasters and increases the overall resiliency of our communities,” said ANCR Executive Director Ryan Colker. “These benchmarks provide a standard for local and state governments to follow ensuring they are well prepared for the next disaster.”
The city of Washington, D.C., expressed interest in evaluating the ANCR buildings benchmarks as it undertakes resilience planning and evaluates its current building stock, according to an ICC press release.
Throughout 2019, ANCR will engage subject matter experts in the development of additional benchmarks including housing, business, energy and water infrastructure.
