Like it or not, design professionals are required to deal with building officials on a regular basis. This is such an important aspect of structural engineering that NCSEA has a committee devoted to it – the Code Officials and Government Agencies Committee. Several member SEA’s also understand the importance of the relationship that structural engineers should have with building officials. A great example is a white paper entitled Guideline – Structural Plan Review Philosophy that was developed by the Structural Engineer’s Association of Washington (SEAW) with the help of the Washington Association of Building Officials (WABO) and is located on the WABO website. …
Author Archives : Chris Kimball, S.E., P.E.
Chris Kimball is the Utah Regional Manager for West Coast Code Consultants, Inc. Mr. Kimball provides plan review services to many jurisdictions throughout the Western United States in addition to providing building code training to design professionals, building officials, and to contractors. He can be reached at chrisk@wc-3.com.
Throughout the United States, many jurisdictions are now adopting the 2015 International Codes. Perhaps the greatest impact to structural engineers is the fact that Chapter 34 of the 2015 International Building Code (IBC) has been removed. This chapter provided minimum design requirements for existing buildings. …
The National Council of Structural Engineers Associations (NCSEA) recently issued a position statement on special inspections clarifying their importance to protecting the public. One assertion made in this statement is that special inspections are “…essential for the satisfactory performance of any project.” …