History 101: Building Permits
For many years, people were allowed to build buildings, structures, fortresses, bridges, roadways, etc., without any concerns for safety and operational effectiveness.
The buildings, structures, and roadways were built with the idea of designing them and installing them quickly without thought to how long they would last or if they would be effective for a prescribed period of time.
In 1867, in Canada, the Constitution Act and the British North American Act gave sole jurisdiction over the regulations and design of buildings to the provincial and territorial governments. They were given the power and the responsibility to develop and implement building codes.
After the provinces and territories received these regulatory powers they did not act upon them for many years, not until the development of building Codes, in Canada the National Building Code (Model Code) which was first published in 1941. The new code (1941) coincided with the most recent developments in building science and engineering knowledge at the time.
Between 1867 and 1941 many events and changes in historical building codes and developments took place due to many large fires in major cities like Halifax, Quebec City, Montreal, Toronto, etc. These fires resulted in major catastrophic damage, subsequent disease, displacement of people, etc. This was also around the same time that increased sanitation systems development took place in regard to reforming the design and operations of urban water and sewer systems.
Insurance companies started to get involved by demanding updates to current buildings in order to provide more “Fire Resistant” type construction. Even though the official building codes had not been developed yet, insurance companies had their own requirements developed in order to minimize exposures to fire loss, and damage and subsequently increase life safety.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, we started to see codes and standards being developed and enforced by insurance companies that required specific building construction practices, awareness of hazardous operations, the need to provide fire suppression systems, the need for fire alarm systems and of course the need to develop local fire departments (Brigades) and fire fighting water supply systems.
As mentioned earlier, the first National Building Code in Canada was published in 1941 during World War II. So, there were other events that took precedence over the building code at the time. After the war, the Canadian Government continued its Wartime Housing Program which had almost completely stopped during World War II.
An Associate Committee was developed to tackle three specific tasks.
- Support the CMHC – Continue the Wartime Housing Program
- Develop a Building Code specific to the needs of small communities
- Updating the 1941 National Building Code
New National Building Codes were published in 1953 and 1960, after which updates began to appear approximately every 5 years, similar to new National Building Code releases today.
From 1960 to finally 1991 there were various issues developed whereby the National Model Code Developments were being ignored by many of the larger provinces.
In 1991 reforms took place with the combination of the National Building Code and National Fire Codes committees being combined into the “Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes”, which applies to this very day.
The idea behind permit development is to ensure that all new buildings, additions, and renovations meet the current code. This ensures that all structures have building safety, operational effectiveness, fire resistance, and other safety measures to help keep the public safe.
At CityReporter, we have experts on Loss Control and Risk Management who update and review our stock forms to provide the most current information to our clients. The software is easily customizable in the Form Editor to ensure that each client has the ability to have their most recent local municipal codes and standards in their account.
