The BC Government has announced that the next round of provisions in British Columbia's new Building Act, 2015 SBC, c. 2 (the "Act") are set to come into force on February 28, 2017.
The Act, which was passed by the legislature in the first half of 2015, is intended to provide greater consistency in the building and construction industry, and to modernize and streamline the building regulatory system.
We have blogged about the new Act before, including, most recently, the municipal building requirements in the Act and the impact of those provisions on the various municipal building bylaws across the province.
The Legislature has taken a staged approach to the introduction of the Act in order to provide municipalities an opportunity to comply with the Act's new requirements.
The latest sections to come into force relate to the qualifications and administration of municipalities' building officials.
Under the new regime, municipalities will need to ensure that the individuals that they appoint as building officials meet certain qualification requirements including passing qualifying exams and belonging to a prescribed professional association.
The purpose of these new sections is to ensure consistency and competence among all of British Columbia's building officials.
Building officials appointed before the new sections come into force on February 28, 2017 will not immediately have to meet the competency requirements. Those officials will have four years to bring themselves into compliance with the applicable requirements under the Act.
The BC Government anticipates that the remaining sections of the Act will come into force sometime in late 2017.
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