Taken from the City of Calgary’s Website.
Building Maintenance Bylaw
The City of Calgary’s Building Maintenance Bylaw will better protect the public by requiring the exterior of Calgary’s buildings to be visually assessed for necessary repairs every five years. It was approved by Calgary City Council on June 20, 2016.
The bylaw includes buildings that are five storeys or greater and over 10 years old, and will require visual assessments on building exterior walls and roofs. This allows The City to focus on the highest risk issues on the highest risk buildings first.
There will be a phased approach to bylaw implementation, where the oldest buildings must complete their visual assessments first. This will enable an efficient use of resources.
View the Building Maintenance Bylaw here. Please note that it comes into force on January 1, 2017.
Why did we develop a Building Maintenance Bylaw?
This bylaw will fill the gap left after the final inspection when a building is first constructed or renovated, and address safety issues before they happen. While the Alberta Building Code states that a building owner may not allow an unsafe condition to be maintained, there is no clearly articulated requirement to maintain buildings. The bylaw aims to make that clear in Calgary.
In recent years, there have been several incidents of building materials and debris falling off of buildings in Calgary, particularly in the downtown core. The City has investigated many incidents related to falling debris, building cracks or collapse, and injury due to falling from windows. From these investigations, we know we can do more to help prevent safety issues connected to building maintenance.
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