The National Building Code (NBC) sets out technical provisions for the design and construction of new buildings. It also applies to the alteration, change of use and demolition of existing buildings.
The NBC establishes requirements to address the following five objectives, which are fully described in Division A of the Code:
Code provisions do not necessarily address all the characteristics of buildings that might be considered to have a bearing on the Code's objectives. Through the extensive consensus process used to develop and maintain Codes Canada (see the section entitled Development of Codes Canada), the code-user community has decided which characteristics should be regulated through the NBC.
Because the NBC is a model code, its requirements can be considered as the minimum acceptable measures required to adequately achieve the above-listed objectives, as recommended by the Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes. They become minimum acceptable requirements once they are adopted and passed into law or regulation by an authority having jurisdiction: i.e. the requirements represent the minimum level of performance required to achieve the objectives that is acceptable to the adopting authority. Code users are also involved in the development of the NBC and they help determine the content. The Code development process is described in the section entitled Development of Codes Canada.
The NBC is a model code which, when adopted or adapted by a province or territory, becomes a regulation. It is not a textbook on building design or construction. The design of a technically sound building depends upon many factors beyond simple compliance with building regulations. Such factors include the availability of knowledgeable practitioners who have received appropriate education, training and experience and who have some degree of familiarity with the principles of good building practice and experience using textbooks, reference manuals and technical guides.
The NBC does not list acceptable proprietary building products. It establishes the criteria that building materials, products and assemblies must meet. Some of these criteria are explicitly stated in the NBC while others are incorporated by reference to material or product standards published by standards development organizations. Only those portions of the standards related to the objectives of this Code are mandatory parts of the NBC.