APARTMENT ADVOCATE
NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION / NATIONAL MULTIFAMILY HOUSING COUNCIL
News Coverage Threatens Use of Wood Construction in Apartments
The use of wood framing continues to be a common practice amongst multi-family developers. In fact, of 8,650 apartment buildings constructed since 2012, 49 % of those are wood, according to Costar’ s data. Unfortunately, recent media coverage about apartment fires has cast doubt on whether it is safe to use wood materials in multi-level construction.
NAA remains concerned that the increased media coverage could result in legislated prohibitions on wood construction for all apartment developers and owners. While in actuality, the fires involved isolated incidents on the construction site during the small window of time prior to the sprinkler systems coming online.
Opponents of wood construction, some of which would benefit from the use of other materials, are using the increased media attention to persuade policymakers into curtailing the use of wood in new construction. For example, bills were considered in Maryland and New Jersey legislatures in 2017. In addition to proposed changes at the state level, the International Codes Council( ICC) will consider changes relating to wood construction in the upcoming codes revision cycle. Proposed language may include limitations on wood construction for multifamily properties or the addition of more operational requirements, such as a mandatory fire watch or 24-hour fire department access during construction. It is also possible that the ICC may consider onerous sprinkler requirements beyond the 13R sprinkler system which is the current industry standard. These possible changes are significant as they may eventually be adopted by localities as part of the ICC’ s model building code. If adopted, these changes will add unnecessary time and costs to multifamily buildings that ulti-
38 | TRENDS • SEPTEMBER 2017 www. aamdhq. org