The Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC): a service for building officials: past, present and future

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Building Officials Association of BC (BOABC) News and Reports, Fall/Winter, pp. 16-18, 2005-10-01

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The Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC): a service for

building officials: past, present and future

Di Lenardo, B.

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The Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC)

A Service for building officials – past, present and

future

Di Lenardo, B.

NRCC-48366

A version of this document is published in / Une version de ce document se trouve dans :

BOABC News and Reports, Fall/Winter 2005, pp. 16-18

The Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC),

A Service for Building Officials ⎯ Past, Present and Future

The CCMC, a Centre within the National Research Council of Canada, is constantly evolving to address the ever increasing demands bestowed upon building regulators across the country. Many involved in the building industry are not fully aware of the role of the CCMC within Canada’s regulatory framework as part of the ‘conformity assessment’ system. The following is a summary of the evolution of CCMC and the challenges that lie ahead.

Past

For those not familiar with the beginnings of CCMC, it would be important to know that the Centre was established in 1988, under signed agreement with the majority of Provinces and Territories (P/T). This agreement, whereby the P/T would support the CCMC for construction product evaluations, was the impetus for a centralized evaluation service to address the needs of the P/T and industry. It was also agreed at that time that the Centre be located at the National Research Council (NRC) as part of the Institute for Research and Construction (IRC) in Ottawa. In this way, the evaluation Centre could benefit from the expertise of IRC’s building scientists and proximity to the Canadian Codes Centre, where the National Building Code (NBC) is developed, was also deemed essential.

After its inception the NRC moved to establish a Commission to oversee the Centre’s policy direction. The Canadian Commission on Construction Materials Evaluation (CCCME) is made up of members representing a cross-section of stakeholders from the construction industry, users and regulators from across Canada. The CCCME serves as the formal CCMC link to the Canadian Commission of Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) and also links to the Provincial and Territorial Committees that represent the building regulatory system in Canada.

Through these P/T Committees the CCMC management maintains a constant link with the Provinces and Territories, and can address major technical and administrative issues. It is the CCMC staff who, through interaction with associations like the BOABC, are sensitized to the needs of the local building official. The CCMC welcomes feedback from all building officials across Canada on our service, reports and listings. This feedback is important if our documents are to continue to meet the needs of the primary user of the service, the local building official.

PRESENT

The CCMC service produces several products to assist the building official in their decision-making for their acceptance of building products and systems.

CCMC Evaluation Reports (xxxxx-R) ⎯ CCMC’s mandate was first established for the evaluation of innovative construction products, products for which there are no product standards. For these innovative products, the CCMC produces a CCMC Technical Guide for the evaluation that outlines all the testing and criteria to be met by the innovation. This technical guide is a proponent/product specific document and is a CCMC internal document not intended for general circulation or use. The Guide is used to also ensure a consistency in the evaluation of

similar innovations falling within that same class of product. Once the evaluation of the test results and product performance is complete, the published CCMC evaluation report outlines the CCMC ‘opinion’ on the product/system performance with respect to ‘equivalent’ performance intended by the NBC as permitted under Section 2.5, Equivalents. With this CCMC report, which outlines the specific product/system, its use and limitations and test evidence provided, the ‘authority having jurisdiction’ (AHJ) is in a position to make an informed decision to determine ‘approval’ of the product for use in their jurisdiction.

The AHJ may or may not agree with the CCMC opinion or may ask for more information or assurances (i.e., engineer’s stamp) on which to decide on the approval of the product for use. The AHJ has full discretion on the approval of product/systems for their jurisdiction and the CCMC provides a technical service only to assist building officials in their decision-making. In fact, the CCMC evaluation service is a ‘voluntary’ program and becomes mandatory only when specified and mandated by others such as: AHJ, specifier, architect, engineer or owner.

CCMC Evaluation Listings (xxxxx-L) ⎯ At the request of the P/T, CCMC was asked to also evaluate non-innovative products that fall within the scope of the standards referenced in the NBC. When a product demonstrates compliance to a product standard (i.e. CSA, CGSB, ULC, etc) through third-party sampling, testing at an accredited lab and demonstration of plant quality control, the CCMC publishes a brief listing on the product’s demonstrated compliance to the standard referenced in the NBC. Compliance to a standard is a straightforward statement provided by the accredited testing laboratory and no judgment on product performance is involved. However, CCMC provides information in the Preface to the listing section on the standard and general product use.

CCMC Registry of Product Evaluations (website and hardcopy) ⎯ Both CCMC listings and evaluation reports are then published in our CCMC Registry which is available: (i) on the CCMC website, updated quarterly and (ii) on hardcopy published annually in the fall. The CCMC web site,

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/ccmc/, contains the most recent updates of the evaluations and this electronic registry takes precedent over the hardcopy. The CCMC Registry not only contains reports and listings but also provides important information on our process, the Commission members, our networking with experts and other technical support initiatives for other

government agencies. In addition, an ‘Important Notes’ section also highlights issues important for consideration by the building official. Currently there are notes on: (i) the significance of ‘re-evaluation due date,’ which may have been exceeded but does not imply that the ‘re-evaluation is not valid, (ii) the NRC responsibility statement and (iii) the fire performance of innovative structural products in houses.

IRC’s Construction Innovation Newsletter

The CCMC also communicates to building officials through IRC’s quarterly newsletter, Construction Innovation (CI). Past copies, as well as, other IRC technical publications, are available on IRC’s website at: http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/publications.html. CCMC has published several articles and announcements over the years, such as: I-joists evaluation, bulletin on offset bearing walls on I-joists, new CCMC Evaluation Guidelines, improper use of surfactants in stucco, wood-plastic composite decking and guards, etc. We often receive feedback from building officials on these bulletins and it is always welcomed.

FUTURE

CCMC Registry of product Evaluations

The CCMC Registry is separated into 16 divisions following the Masterformat designations published by the Construction Specification Canada (CSC) and used throughout the construction industry. These divisions are constantly being modified to make room for new products and, as such, you will find products in different locations within the Registry as the Masterformat designations are updated. A major change is expected for the fall of 2005, which will impact the Registry in 2006.

The CCMC service has also been supplemented to cover the evaluation of infrastructure products. This led to the creation of the Canadian Infrastructure Technology Assessment Centre (CITAC) as part of CCMC. Soon you will see on the CCMC website only, evaluation reports on infrastructure products such as: innovative wastewater treatment systems, innovative drainage mediums, highway sound barriers, groundwater re-use systems, etc. Many of these reports may not be of direct interest to the building official since they are mostly aimed at the local City Engineer in their decision-making for the municipality.

2005 NBC – Objective-Based Codes

The release of the new objective-based code format will have a positive impact on the evaluation of innovative construction products. The new NBC will provide more information on the intended performance regulated by the Code. However, the language will change in that ‘equivalency’ is being replaced with ‘alternative’ solutions. This transition to conform with the new Code format, with CCMC Evaluation Reports specifying the relevant objectives, sub-objectives, functional statements, etc., will take some time for CCMC to incorporate in all

published reports. The P/T Committee has already agreed with a phase-in period for CCMC to make these changes over time, possibly a three-year period as products come up for

re-evaluation.

The 2005 NBC also includes technical changes, such as: Part 9 inclusion of insulated concrete forms (ICFs), rainscreen claddings mandated in coastal areas and Part 4 changes. These changes will directly affect CCMC evaluations and it is uncertain how quickly the building industry will to respond to these changes and request changes to their CCMC reports.

Projects of Importance Underway

Building officials should also be aware that CCMC has been vocal in raising technical issues that need study if they are to be resolved. For this reason CCMC is asked to participate in many IRC/Industry research projects to advance the knowledge-base on product performance and for Code development purposes. CCMC expects to incorporate relevant technical findings into the evaluation process and will communicate said changes to building officials through the CI newsletter or possibly on the CCMC web site in the future. Projects under way include: fire performance of houses (see http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/fr/fph/index_e.html), rain penetration performance of innovative claddings, and high temperature performance of wood adhesives (CSA subcommittee).

In closing, BOABC members should know that the CCMC, and this author in particular as a former building official, is aware of the burden placed upon the building official. CCMC is

committed to providing reliable and relevant technical information to the building official as needed to accomplish their task.

I can be reached at (613) 993-7769 or fax: (613) 952-0268 or e-mail at bruno.di_lenardo@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca