Research + Tech

ICC and Pakistan Engineering Council develop building code

The International Code Council® and the Pakistan Engineering Council, a statuary body that regulates the engineering profession and education in Pakistan, have developed the Building Code of Pakistan. Based on the International Building Code,® 2021 Edition, the Building Code of Pakistan provides minimum benchmarks for the structural safety of building design, construction, operation, practices and installation of allied building systems in Pakistan.

The ICC and PEC’s Think Tank Department share a history of holding international development agreements, working toward the overall development of the Building Code of Pakistan. The ICC and PEC officially signed the international publishing agreement in August 2021.

“We are pleased to continue our longstanding global partnership with the Pakistan Engineering Council,” says Mark Johnson, executive vice president and director of business development for ICC. “The Building Code of Pakistan contains significant advancements in building safety and is a landmark achievement that reflects Pakistan’s commitment in furthering the advancement of building safety in the country.”

Report explores obstacles for digital tools in construction

An October 2021 survey from Dodge Construction Network shows 95% of 648 office- and field-level construction industry respondents are ready to take on new digital tools, according to constructiondive.com. Another 95% of field workers say they would be willing to use digital tools to combine or streamline parts of their work.

Still, the construction industry generally has been slow to adopt technology. Only 15% of survey respondents say they have implemented a digital transformation strategy, and 38% of respondents say they have not built out a strategy or it is not a priority.

Dan McCarthy, CEO of Dodge Construction Network, says the industry’s desire for accurate data is a good sign. However, employing a digital transformation comes with challenges.

Of the 49% of office workers who had issues implementing a digital strategy, 42% report hardware and software issues slowed or stopped a project. Thirty-nine percent of those respondents say such issues made the project more expensive overall, and 19% say staff failure to adopt the new strategy stalled the project and resulted in no improvement in their work.

“What’s really behind the challenges is that it’s hard to organize data and deploy it in a way that it can create value for companies,” McCarthy says.

In September 2021, Autodesk released a report showing bad data was costing the construction industry $1.8 trillion annually. It also found 30% of the report’s respondents said more than half their data was “bad” and unusable in their work. Autodesk encouraged companies to employ formal data strategies to make the best use of data collected.