For a building material, codes and standards define your market’s existence. CMHA is actively involved in a wide variety of codes and standards forums on behalf of its members. Through a collective industry voice, we advance and protect the competitive position of members products, as well as promoting safer and more resilient buildings and communities. Whether it’s ensuring structural performance, fire safety, energy efficiency or the quality assurance of manufactured concrete products and systems, CMHA leads the way in the development of innovative solutions to these core ideals, through research, analysis and the championing of specific codes.
Hardscapes Initiatives
Gravity Retaining Wall Standard
The SRW Technical Subcommittee has a task group the is working with The Masonry Society to develop a Gravity Retaining Wall Standard that would encompass not only segmental retaining walls but other retain wall systems like armorstone, timber cribs, gabion and precast modular block.
Reauthorization of Canadian Paver/Paving Slab Standard
The Segmental Pavement Technical Subcommittee has a task group helping to steer the reauthorization of CSA A231. This includes merging the slab and paver standards, improving guidance for the freeze-thaw test method, and providing better alignment with the related ASTM standards.
Masonry Initiatives
New Energy Standards
Through a joint committee of the American Concrete Institute and The Masonry Society, CMHA staff is working to finalize two new energy compliance standards for concrete and masonry buildings. These standards, to be published soon by ACI/TMS 122 committee, are intended to be referenced by model codes to create another energy code compliance path.
Dry-Stacked Masonry Design & Construction
With the help of an NCMA Foundation grant, efforts are underway to standardize requirements for design and construction requirements for dry-stack masonry through The Masonry Society standards. These efforts will reduce the barriers to entry for dry-stack masonry, both using standard units as well as proprietary systems.
Bedrock Principles
Industry Engagement
Awareness and support of codes and standards efforts is crucial to success. CMHA works closely with allied industry groups, members, and interested parties to achieve common goals.
Reflect Industry Advances in Codes
CMHA actively works within codes and standards arenas to bring the latest technology to the market. Efforts are ongoing to take the latest in research and translate to updated codes and standards.
Foster Product and Process Innovations
Innovation advances markets, and codes and standards need to keep pace with evolving trends. CMHA works to be sure that codes and standards can help bring innovations to the marketplace.
Protect Competitive Position
Building codes and standard should be fair for all industries and be focused on producing safe, resilient, and economical structures. CMHA monitors a wide variety of forums to ensure that unnecessary burdens are not imposed on member products and codes continue to promote life safety as the primary objective.
Engagement Forums
ASTM International – product standards and test methods.
- Committee C15 on Masonry
- Committee C09 on Concrete Aggregates
- Committee E06 on Building Performance
- Commitees D18 on Soil and Rock and D35 on Geosynthetics
Canadian Standards Association
Committee A231 on Paver and Paving Slabs
American Society of Civil Engineers
- ASCE 7 – Minimum Design Loads and Associated Criteria for Buildings and Other Structures
- ASCE 58 – Structural Design of Interlocking Concrete Pavement for Municipal Streets and Roadways
- ASCE 68 – Permeable Interlocking Concrete Pavement
American Concrete Institute
- ACI/TMS 122 – Energy Efficiency of Concrete & Masonry Systems
- ACI/TMS 216 – Fire Resistance of Concrete & Masonry Systems
International Code Council
- ICC 500 – Storm Shelter Design for Hurricanes and Tornadoes
- ICC 605 – IS – Multi-Hazard Resiliency for Residential Construction Committee
- I-Code Development Process
The Masonry Society
- TMS 402/602 – Building Code Requirements and Specification for Masonry Structures
- GRW – Gravity Retaining Wall Committee
- TMS 302 – Sound Transmission Class Standard Building Information Modeling for Masonry Committee
- Board of Directors
Sustainability Forums
- Building Transparency
- NIST Low Carbon Cement and Concrete Consortium
Get In Touch
Questions? Our staff can take you through the nuances of each program, what they mean and how they can raise the bar for your business, and the industry as a whole.