By Brian Foley
 

Two questions that often plague architects when designing a tenant improvement plan in an existing building are: 1) What’s the type of construction?  2) What code was the base building designed under? With regards to Question 1, the Building Division suggests the following tools:

• Land Development Information History.  Since automating permits in the early 1980s, types of construction have been recorded.  Use this link and search by address to view past permits for type of construction.  Caution is advised as there may be inconsistencies caused by input errors (and the perpetuation thereof), permits to change the type of construction and building code changes (see below).
• Quick Reference: Evolution of Construction Types.  In 1984 and again in 2000, the code’s type of construction changed, and in the case of the latter, the nomenclature was completely replaced using the current roman numerals.  Use this Quick Reference to track the changes through code editions, i.e., 2C to IIB or 3A to IV.

Question 2 is easily answered if you use the USBC adoption table in the Quick Reference.  Remember that a year’s grace period has been standard when adopting a new code in Virginia.  Add one year to the effective date to determine the absolute adoption date of the technical provisions.  Do note that during the one-year grace period, permits are able to be issued under both the incoming and outgoing codes.