Industry Leader Renews Top Sponsorship for Building Innovation 2015

For the third year, McGraw Hill Construction renews its commitment as the Conference Sponsor for Building Innovation 2015 — the National Institute of Building Sciences Conference & Expo. As the industry’s reliable and trusted information resource, McGraw Hill’s sponsorship helps to support the Institute’s mission to bring together representatives from the entire building community to collaborate on industry issues. During the four-day Conference, January 12-15, 2015, in Washington, D.C., the Institute will deliver programming concentrated on Creating High-Performing Resilient Communities through five informative symposia covering four tracks. As top sponsor, McGraw Hill Construction will be featured throughout the Conference venue and exhibit in one of four prime exhibitor locations on the Exhibit Hall floor in the large open atrium of the Washington Marriott Wardman Park. There are many other opportunities for organizations to highlight their contributions to the building industry through sponsorships and exhibit spaces during Building Innovation 2015. Companies interested in showing their support for the Institute and the building community can reserve a sponsorship and/or exhibitor space online or contact Holly Velez at the Institute for more information.

Code Officials Survey Closes May 9

The National Institute of Building Sciences, on behalf of the International Code Council (ICC), is conducting a nationwide survey of participants in the building regulatory process to understand the current state of the industry, the pathways for entering such careers and the long-term health of the profession.

The largest demographic survey of code officials to date, building regulatory professionals at all levels (federal, regional, state or local) are asked to answer the questions. Participating in the survey will help to advance the future of the building regulatory profession.

Don't Miss Workshops on Cybersecurity of Building Control Systems

The Institute is hosting two workshops in May to help architects, engineers, contractors, owners, facility managers, maintenance engineers, physical security specialists, information assurance professionals and essentially anyone involved with implementing cybersecurity in the facility life cycle to learn best practice techniques to better protect their facilities.

The Introduction to Cybersecuring Building Control Systems Workshop and the Advanced Cybersecuring Building Control Systems Workshop are both built around Executive Order 13636—Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity; the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Risk Management Framework; the draft NIST Special Publication (SP) 800-82 Rev. 2 Industrial Control Systems Security Guide; and the draft U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Interagency Security Committee “Securing Government Assets through Combined Traditional Security and Information Technology” White Paper. These new requirements will have a transformational impact on the traditional building design, construction, operation and protection of building control systems and will require facility and information assurance professionals to learn building control system cyber skills.

First MMC Webinar Addresses Pressing Aspects of Hazards Mitigation

Last week, the Multihazard Mitigation Council (MMC) inaugurated its quarterly webinar series on mitigation. The first webinar, entitled, “Safe Enough? How the Building Code Protects Our Lives but Not Our Cities,” was held April 23 from noon to 1:00 p.m. The event, with 55 attendees, was a success. Keith A. Porter, PE, PhD, a research professor with the University of Colorado at Boulder and a principal with SPA Risk LLC, delivered a thought-provoking presentation. He provided evidence that the public has different expectations for the building code’s seismic provisions than what it delivers, and gave examples of how communities, particularly building owners, landlords and tenants, can influence the level of protection afforded by building codes to reduce the numbers of collapsed, and red and yellow tag buildings in an earthquake. Dr Porter’s presentation will be made available on the MMC web page. An MMC subcommittee is forming to address public expectations and understanding of the building code.

Future webinars will address social considerations; governance, including building codes and zoning ordinances; the built environment; hazard and risk assessment; and economics. “Better Building Codes: Demanding Minimum Construction Practices—“It’s the Least We Can Do!,” is scheduled for July 24 from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. EDT and will be presented by Leslie Chapman-Henderson, President and CEO of the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH). The webinars are free and open to the broad disaster community and the public.

The BEST Opportunities Await!

A new opportunity to support the triennial Building Enclosure Science and Technology (BEST4) Conference, April 13-15, 2015, in Kansas City, Mo. has been added to 35 other sponsorships. For only $500, organizations can show their involvement in and support for high-performance building enclosures with a business-card sized advertisement in the Conference Notebook. Other sponsorship opportunities provide organizations a chance to network with design and construction decision makers and demonstrate how their products will help meet tomorrow’s challenges. During BEST4, where Science meets Design™, the industry’s premier practitioners, researchers and educators will explore Performance Driven Architectural Design and deliver programming designed to enhance understanding of challenging design changes. Take this opportunity to support BEST4 and get your organization featured during the event. Download the prospectus for more information. Stay up to date on all Conference news and information by visiting www.thebestconference.org.

WBDG Sets New Monthly Records in March

One of the world's largest portals of construction-related information, the WBDG Whole Building Design Guide® set two new records in March. The website, which hosts a range of resources, from federal agency construction criteria to content on historic preservation and green building, hit a high of 7,265,509 document downloads by 642,048 visitors. WBDG, which is free and open to the public, is a great resource for information on all aspects of the building life cycle and includes a range of continuing education courses. Visit the WBDG.

WBDG Historic Preservation Holds Annual Update Meeting

The WBDG Whole Building Design Guide® Historic Preservation subcommittee met at the Institute April 23. Led by Stephanie Vierra, WBDG editor, the members of the subcommittee reviewed the Historic Preservation Design Objective sections to update content and address emerging issues. The Historic Preservation Design Objective includes these topics: Apply the Preservation Process Successfully, Update Building Systems Appropriately, Accommodate Life Safety and Security Needs, and Comply with Accessibility Requirements.

An enthusiastic group, this subcommittee, comprised of preservation experts from government, private sector and professional societies, meets annually to update the WBDG Historic Preservation Design Objective. The updates will be posted to WBDG sometime this summer. This meeting is the first of several WBDG committees that will meet over the next couple of months to update WBDG content keeping it fresh and relevant.

New Version of Data Dictionary Launched
The buildingSMART Data Dictionary now available to all

The buildingSMART International (bSI) launched a new cloud-based version of its buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) on March 19 at its international committee meeting in Stockholm.

The bSDD, which provides a shared system for identifying and validating names of the components and properties used in building information models, is one of a set of buildingSMART standards that enables collaborative working.

This is the first time that the bSDD has been made available through an online web service on the buildingSMART website, with content access and tools that run in a web browser. The new version offers improved base content and content management tools, is easier to use (thanks to the web browser), responds speedily to queries and gives access to IFC 2x4 property sets. Find out more.