08 Aug NH State Building & Fire Codes are being updated September 2019

Below is an email received from the NH Building Code Officials Association regarding the adoption of the 2015 International Building Codes signed into law by Governor Sununu on July 19, 2019.

Sharon Wayman
Executive Director, NHHBA

To all NHBOA members,
You all should be aware by now that the updating of New Hampshire to the 2015 International codes is occurring and will become effective September 15, 2019. Attached are two documents to assist code officials.

NH State Building Code Changes to 2015 Release (Final)
2019 Code Implementation Guidance (Final)

The first document, the News Release, was created with our Board of Directors in cooperation with several of our partners in the code administration and development professions. Please share this information on your front counter, website, social media pages or email to trade professionals, organizations and associations you work with to help educate every one of the coming updates. You will note there are links included to state amendments and to purchase each of the code books.

The second document is to help you, the code official. It was developed by our Board of Directors and our Legislative Affairs Committee to help guide you with the implementation process of the 2015 codes. Again, there are links to purchase code books and links to NH specific amendments. There are also several recommendations of how you can help yourselves with the transition by getting the word out and planning now for what will occur in your offices as of September 15, 2019. There are several upcoming trainings being hosted by NHBOA specifically for the transition to the 2015 codes. More 2015 specific training classes are being added to our schedule each week. Finally we have been asked about a transitions document from the 2009 codes to the 2015 codes. Links are provided to purchase the transition documents from ICC.

Please take the time to review and share this information that is being provided. We also stress that we all should try and make this transition as consistent across our state as possible. Communicate with each other and base your decisions and transition plans on facts, laws and codes and steer away from assumptions and opinions. The better we all do at getting the correct information out to our customers the smoother the transition will be.

Last, if you finds yourself in doubt and you have questions the NHBOA Board of Directors and our forum are resources here to help.

I hope you all find this information useful as we all move New Hampshire’s building codes forward.

William McKinney
President
New Hampshire Building Officials Association