The first-ever comprehensive review of the Ontario Building Code has a mandate to root out duplications, anachronisms and undue complexities that have crept into the document over the course of 50 years of continual amendments. That’s all while upholding core objectives to protect health and safety and promote durability, accessibility, energy efficiency and optimal building performance. “We are advancing our plan to streamline and right-size the Building Code,” says Robert Flack, Ontario’s Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. System-level scrutinyThe Ontario Building Code is a set of regulations under the provincial Building Code Act and, as thus, can be amended through Ministerial decree without need for approval from the legislative assembly. The Ontario Building Code’s supplemental standard for energy efficiency in large buildings, labelled as SB-10, currently references the 2015 national energy code for buildings (NECB).