Code Council is a top sponsor of Building Innovation 2020

The National Institute of Building Sciences’ (NIBS) eighth annual conference and expo — Building Innovation 2020 — will be held virtually from Aug. 18-19, 2020, on NIBS’ Virtual Platform. This year’s event will bring together building and fire safety experts from across the industry to explore strategies aimed at creating and sustaining high-performance, resilient buildings and communities. For the fifth year in a row, the International Code Council will hold a lead sponsorship role in the Building Innovation Conference and there are a wide range of opportunities for Code Council members to gain valuable insights from attending this collaborative online conference.

The Building Innovation 2020 conference program will present 16 sessions and 29 speakers over two information-packed days focusing on technology, workforce, resilience and COVID-19.

Resilience

NIBS and the American Institute of Architects define resiliency as the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events. Disasters are expensive, but most destruction can be prevented with cost-effective mitigation and advanced planning. New and existing practices must be developed or changed through research, advocacy, and education. A special focus will be placed on ensuring the resilience of the nation’s building stock, covering topics in the built environment relating to resilience due to climate change, natural hazard risks, and sustainability efforts. View sessions

Technology

New and advanced technologies rapidly are developed and deployed across the building industry, with major potential shifts in how the industry conducts day-to-day business. In addition to research and development into new technologies, the industry must be prepared for how these technologies will be adopted and utilized. NIBS is working to prepare the industry for new opportunities, as well as promote advanced, efficient, and safe structures. Building Innovation 2020 will showcase these advanced technologies and practices and highlight how the industry can best prepare for their adoption and deployment. View sessions

Workforce

The building industry faces many workforce challenges, from skills gaps to labor shortages. Today’s building workforce requires unprecedented technological, social, cultural, political, and economic savvy — all at a time when fewer individuals are entering the trades industry. Through various projects and its councils and committees, NIBS is working to address head-on these challenges. Activities in this space include showcasing career opportunities in the building industry; supporting better credentials and reducing uncertainty in the credentialing space; and, supporting continuing education and retraining opportunities for trades workers. Building Innovation 2020 will highlight this critical challenge for the industry, as well as opportunities for advancing the building workforce to meet 21st century needs. View sessions

The Code Council’s Ryan Colker, vice president of innovation and executive director of the Alliance for National & Community Resilience, will present at the Housing Affordability and Resilience session from 2:00 to 2:45 p.m. ET on Aug. 19, 2020, which will examine the importance of including resilience in strategies to address housing affordability, the role of building codes in supporting resilience for low-income households, and need to examine the total cost of ownership/rental and life-cycle cost as a key metric for affordability.

“The Code Council is a long-standing proud partner and participant of the NIBS Building Innovation Conference,” said Code Council Chief Executive Officer Dominic Sims, CBO. ” With educational sessions led by the built environment’s top experts and an abundance of networking opportunities, the Building Innovation Conference is an event for industry professionals to collaborate and tackle important issues involving the workforce, technology and resilience.”

The National Institute of Building Sciences serves as a convener of the U.S. building industry, bringing together thought leaders, implementers and influencers. Throughout the decades, the Institute and the Code Council have collaborated on numerous projects to improve the safety and resilience of U.S. communities. A Sustaining Organization Member of the Institute, Code Council representatives are involved in a range of Institute councils and committees. In addition, several Code Council members participate on NIBS’ Board of Directors.

Code Council CEO Dominic Sims serves on the NIBS’ board along with former board directors James “Jim” Ryan, CBO. Current Code Council Board Vice President Cindy L. Davis, CBO, deputy director of the Building and Fire Regulation Division at the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, served as the treasurer of the NIBS’ board. In addition, Sara Yerkes, senior vice president of Government Relations at the International Code Council, is an At-Large member for NIBS’ Multihazard Mitigation Council’s Board of Direction, which provides a forum for disaster professionals to exchange valuable information on emerging trends in building technology and federal policy, and to address building systems and software applications that play a critical role in disaster resilience and sustainability.