Resiliency – Consideration Beyond Code Requirements

This presentation is part of the Sustainable Structures Webinar Series. The Sustainable Structures Webinar Series was developed cooperatively by cast-in-place and precast concrete associations from the Midwest region of the United States including Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The goal of the cooperative effort is to bring a greater awareness of the sustainable and resilient nature of concrete building systems to the design, construction, and development communities via quality continuing education programs.

Prescriptive building code requirements represent provisions for the least safe structure that may legally be built in a jurisdiction. Over the past 20 years, the building design and construction industry have witnessed an increase in the number of trade-offs of passive fire safety features for active systems. As natural disasters attributed to climate change continue to escalate, the population of neighborhoods located along with the wildland-urban interface increases, and fire and emergency access to buildings in densely populated areas is obstructed, multiple drivers arise to consider more robust construction for our built environment.

The presentation will provide an overview of increased risks from natural and human hazards, identify approaches to mitigate their effects through voluntary and mandatory strategies and demonstrate the importance of incorporating standards for resiliency beyond minimum code requirements.