HIRF Q & A

The recent builder breakfast/luncheon sessions held around the province on the High Intensity Residential Fire (HIRF) code changes were extremely well attended at all locations. In order to help members further understand how these HIRF changes could potentially affect projects, a list of commonly asked questions and their answers has been prepared with the assistance of government staff at the municipal and provincial levels. Responses mostly pertain to single-family home construction practices, unless the question specifically addresses multi-family homes. Please read all answers in the context of the references mentioned.

Standata to Correct HIRF Change Errors

Through the continued efforts of CHBA - Alberta, a number of errors and omissions have been identified in the technical Code language associated with the HIRF changes, and so Alberta Municipal Affairs has recently issued a standata correcting these items. An explanation of these corrections and the replacement pages for the Code books can be downloaded by clicking here.

CCBFC Public Review of Codes

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes (CCBFC) is conducting a focused public review from April 6th to May 29th on the relocation of building design requirements from the 2005 National Fire Code of Canada (NFC) to the 2005 National Building Code of Canada (NBC), and the addition of appropriate cross-referencing between the two documents. The proposed changes are the result of an editorial exercise aimed at drawing a clear line between the roles of the NFC and the NBC. No new technical changes were introduced. Even though the 2005 Codes have been distributed, these proposed changes will form the model for the upcoming 2010 NBC. The National Building and Fire Codes developed by the CCBFC are model codes, which Alberta uses as the basis for the Alberta Building and Fire Codes. To learn more about this review and how to participate click here.

Still Time to Enter Alberta Housing Awards

The Alberta Awards of Excellence in Housing online award submissions are being accepted until June 3 at 4:30pm. This is the time for builders and renovators to show off their greatest homes.

Great Deal for BUILD 2009

The Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (JPL) and CHBA – Alberta are offering delegates an early bird rate on hotel accommodations booked prior to June 1, 2009. Rates for a Fairmont room start at $295 per night (plus applicable taxes, resort fee, etc). The relationship developed over the years between CHBA - Alberta and the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge has proved to be one that works for everyone. Click here to register and to be automatically entered for the early bird draw consisting of hotel accommodations for September 17-19 and one free conference registration. Conference registration cannot be applied to pre-negotiated sponsorship agreements or trade show participants.

PHBIA Crystal Awards in Jasper

The PHBIA Crystal Awards are designed to honor and recognize the two core areas in the residential home building business – the sales team and site managers. Both sales and site managers are judged by those with whom they work and interact on a daily basis. Show off your best in Jasper in 2009 – please visit PHBIA's website for more information and the entry forms. The closing date for nominations is June 26, 2009.

C & D Waste Focus Group Sessions

Alberta Environment, the Alberta Construction Association and CHBA-Alberta signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2008, in which the parties agreed to work together to develop a construction and demolition waste diversion program for Alberta. Province-wide focus group sessions with residential construction industry members were completed in April 2009 to review the proposed program details. Many excellent suggestions were offered by members, which will bring about important changes to the program as it moves towards regulation in late 2009, and becomes effective in late 2010. There will be broad stakeholder consultation sessions held around the province in mid-June for all industry members to attend. More information on this will be made available in the next few weeks.

2009 Provincial Skills Competition

On May 13 & 14, 2009 Skills Canada‐Alberta will host the 17th annual Provincial Skills competition and Alberta’s largest Trade and Technology Career Fair at the Northlands Agricom in Edmonton. For more information visit the Skills Canada‐Alberta website.

Give Safety A Voice

Spring is here and the hunt for new workers is on! But did you know that workers with less than six months experience get hurt three times more often, and that injuries double among young workers in the summer? Inexperience, lack of safety knowledge and language barriers are a few reasons for these trends. Raise awareness among young and foreign workers about on-the-job risks by contacting WCB for free worksite safety posters at corporate.communications@wcb.ab.ca.

Window to Wall Interface Details Report

The National Research Council has compiled a report based on a review of pertinent literature and feedback obtained from different experts and practitioners of window installation. It forms the initial part (Phase 1) of a series of three reports prepared on the "Performance Evaluation of Wall-Window Interface Details". The report can be downloaded by

clicking here.