“ With the increase in extreme weather events, safety and sustainability are becoming completely interconnected. ” A high-performance, sustainable building is also a robust and safe building for its occupants. Ryan Colker explains how buildings designed to withstand disasters protect occupants while limiting the environmental impact of reconstruction. What is the International Code Council? R. C.: The foundations of the International Code Council (ICC) date back a hundred years, when major American cities such as Chicago and Baltimore wanted to protect against fire. The construction codes then became a mechanism to help US state governments develop appropriate policies, and provided a common benchmark for safety requirements. Today, the ICC is the world’s leading source of model codes, standards and safety solutions for buildings. What does “safety” mean for the ICC? R. C.: The aim is to protect people and property from risks or threats caused by human activity or natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, forest fires, floods, and hurricanes, but also from new realities such as rising sea levels and extreme heatwaves or extreme cold. How does safety fit into a sustainability approach? R. C.: With the increase in disasters resulting from climate change, safety and sustainability are now inseparable. A building that has not withstood an extreme event has not only failed to guarantee the safety of its occupants and their property, but will also have to be rebuilt, resulting in new carbon emissions. So we need to initiate a virtuous circle by optimizing the safety performance of buildings from the outset. RYAN COLKER Executive Director, Energy, Resilience & Innovation at the International Code Council How can we reconcile safety and sustainability? VIEWPOINT READ the full interview in Constructing a Sustainable Future 91 90
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