January 22, 2006 - Massachusetts Building Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings

Based on an email from Robert Anderson, BBRS Administrator, to the Board (BBRS) 1/3/07, the Seventh Edition Building Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings has been approved by members of the Board of Building Regulations and Standards. The official code will be availavable from the State House Bookstore soon. The unoffical version is currently available for purchase directly from the International Code Council (ICC).

The effective date for the new code has not been determined yet. Content of the official code and the unofficial code is identical; style (font type, etc.) is different. Only the official version may be used as evidence in a court of law.

Questions and Answers

Presentation from the BBRS to the North East Building Code Association, October 2006

September 21, 2006 - First Meeting

SEAMass held its First Meeting at the Holiday Inn in Newton. The discussion at the meeting was the 'Massachusetts State Building Code Revisions'. Rubin Zallen, Principle of Zallen Engineering and chairman of the Loads Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulation and Standards, spoke on the structural chapters of the code minus seismic. Joseph Zona, Senior Principal of Simpson Gumpertz and Hegar and chairman of the Seismic Advisory Committee for the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulation and Standards, spoke on the seismic changes of the 7th Edition in the structural chapters of the code. Discussion material of their talks is located in the Resources section of this website.

The hearings for the 7th Edition of the building code have been postponed to May 2007. The new hopeful date of the codes acceptance is the summer of 2007.

There were just over 70 in attendance at the meeting. Of that, 20 were not employeyed by a BASE member firm, so our efforts to reach the structural engineering community outside of BASE are showing.

SEAMass has increased its members from May 2006 to 100 members as of today. Of the 100 members, 81 members are with BASE member firms. That means we are slowly reaching individuals outside of BASE's network to the benefits of SEAMass.

SEAMass Executive Committee has decided to write a joint letter with BASE in favor of a proposed regulation change to 250 CMR 3.04. The Massachusetts Board of Registration will conduct a Public Hearing on this proposed change on Thursday, September 28 at 2 PM, 2nd floor conference room at 239 Causeway Street. You can read the existing section 3.04 at the Board's website.

AISC has extended it's member benefits to a seminar it is conducting on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 in Boston on the 2005 AISC Specification and Manual. Get complete infomration from AISC's website.