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Building Safety Month Proclamation – William Shelton, director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (far left), Emory Rodgers, director of the division of building regulation in DHCD (far right), and James Snowa AIA (fourth from right).

Safety underpins the entire philosophy of government’s rationale for licensure in the construction industry.  As a consequence, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell proclaimed May as Building Safety Month in Virginia.

The proclamation recognizes the efforts of licensed professionals who design the buildings, constructors who put the buildings together, and code officials who oversee the construction according to the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.

VSAIA members continue to review the new model codes developed on a three-year cycle by the International Code Council.  For 12 to 18 months, these members along with many other representatives from other organizations, review, amend, and refine the model codes to incorporate Virginia’s heritage of code experience.

This effort is led by Kenney Payne, AIA, from Moseley Architects’ Richmond office.  He works primarily with the building and fire codes.  James Snowa, AIA, and Megan Shope, AIA, both from the Richmond firm Winks-Snowa Architects, review the residential code.  Those wishing to join this effort may contact Duncan Abernathy, AIA, at daber@aiava.org.

The 2012 code with Virginia amendments should be opened for public hearings shortly.  The anticipated implementation date is the fall of 2014.

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