New Building Code Coming To New York City

The push to update the NYC building code, which was last revised in 1968, was brought about by the collapse of the World Trade Center in the 9/11 attacks. The revision involves looking at all aspects of building construction and received input from hundreds of experts in the industry.

The new code, drafted with the help of more than 400 industry figures — including architects, real estate developers, engineers, government officials, and union representatives — will be presented to the City Council later this month.

It is modeled on the International Building Code in use in cities across America, but it will contain provisions specific to New York City. Many experts consulted during the three-year revision process say it will finally bring the city into the 21st century when it comes to building and safety requirements.

A final draft has not yet been released, but Marolyn Davenport, the senior vice president of the city's most powerful lobbying group representing the real estate industry, the Real Estate Board of New York, said the new code could lead to building cost increases, a perennial concern among developers.

"I think there will be some increases in costs," Ms. Davenport, who has attended committee meetings on the new code over the past few years, said. "There are potentially new requirements that could cost more. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, necessarily, if it's something people should be doing" for safety reasons.

While there are some who think that the new code will increase costs of construction, others think that the new code will actually simplify and reduce costs in the long run.

Mr. Bell also said he thinks the new code would be easier to read and understand. Since it is modeled off of the International Building Code, architects and engineers hailing from outside the city will have an easier time navigating construction requirements in New York.

However, unlike the International Building Code, a 664-page document that measures about one and a half inches thick, the city's code is thousands of pages long and stuffed with memorandum, technical policy and procedure notices, rules, and local laws added over the past 39 years.

A managing director at Real Capital Analytics, Dan Fasulo, said remaking any city's building code prompts a careful dance between safety concerns and cost constraints.

"You want the code to protect the quality of construction," he said. "You want to make sure the code is up to modern standards. At the same time, you don't want to make it too onerous, so it's too expensive to build in the city."