SGBF and ICC are joining global efforts to streamline the Green Building regulatory code system

Whashington 18th of November 2015: The Saudi Green Building Forum (SGBF) and International Code Council (ICC) matched goals and objectives to safeguard public health, safety, welfare, and in the built environment; enhance local economic development and investment into construction industry promoting state-of-the-art green technology in search of materials, design and construction practices, thus reducing the risk of hazards in the natural environment; SGBF and ICC are joining global efforts to streamline the building regulatory system through a set of interconnected building codes that provide consistency and compatibility to multiple layers of requirements existing at the international and national levels

"No doubt SGBF is to adapt the International Green Construction Code by ICC to meet Saudi Arabian and regional challenges of sustainability issues, deemed essential towards the effective and efficient application to address indoor health quality and high performing buildings, infrastructure and cities." HRH Prince Khaled Bin AlWaleed, Chairman of SGBF added "We look forward to working with ICC the world's most respected code builder to translate the resulting products into Arabic in developing common programs and establishing a network of communication benefiting both organization, towards establishing stronger relationships, confidence, and understanding between respective constituencies, engaging all stakeholders such as municipality officials, fire officials, engineers, architects, contractors, academia, and the building industry as a whole."

SGBF and ICC agreed to recognize the need to study and evaluate existing conditions of green building practice and regulations in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Region, to establish a program that will address mutually beneficial issues, to produce positive results by each individual organization assisted by its members technical committees.

The announcement of SGBF and ICC working together toward the advancement to establish programs to enhance the quality level of green building construction and public safety through activities such as educational seminars, professional certifications, advancement and sharing of information on new construction designs and technologies and multilingual publications on building construction safety related issues. 

“The International Green Construction Code is the first model code focused on new and existing commercial buildings addressing market-driven, green building design and performance,” said International Code Council Chief Executive Officer Mr. Dominic Sims, CBO. “The code broadens and strengthens building codes to accelerate the construction of high-performance, sustainable green buildings. We are honored to be working with the Saudi Green Building Forum on the use of the International Green Construction Code and look forward to working with the Kingdom and other Arab nations on cooperative efforts that will further public safety.”

SGBF and ICC understand the intent to provide the basis for developing future cooperative arrangements and programs as cooperative efforts are to provide consulting services/ products to public/ private sector out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Arab Countries Such as: Regularly organize working meetings to provide relevant information and training programs. Arrange for interest of technical code experts to visit exchange to receive training on code development and preparation of code amendments. Organize visits exchange between members to receive information and understanding of U.S. codes and standards management system and certification systems; 

Establish mechanisms for exchange of information between building code enforcement agencies and personnel, in the Arab region; Translating the ICC International Green Construction Code (IgCC) into Arabic.