ACI presents the importance of building codes during NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code technical committee meetings

7/18/2025

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) technical committees developing the 2027 edition of the model building code, NFPA 5000 Building Construction and Safety Code, met in Baltimore, Maryland, July 15-24, 2025. The Building Systems Committee provided ACI staff an opportunity to deliver a presentation on the importance of recognizing codes developed by ACI-TMS Committee 122 on Energy Efficiency of Concrete and Masonry Systems. Earlier in the code development process, ACI submitted comments to add:

After the first round of technical committees, ACI staff responded to committee input questioning the need to add the reference standards. Part of the committee input noted that the NFPA procedures do not permit alternative compliance paths within the body of NFPA codes. Plus, a recent change in procedure is eliminating the use of exceptions to referenced standards. Because the primary energy conservation standards referenced in NFPA 5000 are ASHRAE 90.1 – Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings and ASHRAE 90.2 – High-Performance Energy Design of Residential Buildings, the procedures would not permit the ACI-TMS documents to be included in the body of the code.

NFPA 5000 does provide for alternative means and methods in Section 1.5 on Equivalency. The committee recommended that the three ACI-TMS documents be included in the non-mandatory annex with language noting to the authority having jurisdiction that these documents may be used for alternative compliance. Because the NFPA procedures prohibit alternative means and methods in the body of its codes, inclusion of these alternative compliance paths in the Annex with notes to the AHJ regarding equivalency is the best possible outcome. It is noteworthy that the technical committee created language specifically noting that these documents may be used as alternative methods of compliance.

In addition to the presentation to the committee, additional support was provided by Shamim Rashid-Sumar and Darryl Dixon of the National Ready-Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA). The committee vote was unanimous.

While the NFPA code development process is not complete, this was the final round of technical committee meetings for the 2027 edition of NFPA 5000. With the provisions citing the ACI-TMS documents appearing in the non-mandatory annex, it is unlikely that the inclusion will be challenged.

At the prior technical committee meetings, the inclusion of ACI 440.11 Structural Concrete Buildings Reinforced Internally with Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Bars – Code Requirements and Commentary was recommended as a new provision in NFPA 5000. At the correlating committee meetings in December 2025, references to ACI documents are expected to be updated so that the 2027 edition will be referencing:

For more information, contact Steve Szoke, ACI Distinguished Staff and Code Advocacy Engineer at steve.szoke@concrete.org or visit the ACI Code Advocacy Portal.