The City of Fernie will be requiring that all new residential construction projects comply with the BC Energy Step Code, effective January 1, 2021.

According to the BC Energy Step Code Council, “the BC Energy Step Code is an energy-efficiency performance design standard designed to help the province meet its goal that all new British Columbia buildings must be net-zero energy ready by 2032. A net-zero energy ready building is one that has been designed and built to a level of performance such that it could, with the addition of solar panels or other renewable energy technologies, meet its energy needs entirely on-site.”

In practice, this means that all building permit applications for wood frame residential houses (Part 9 Buildings) and wood- frame low/mid-rise residential buildings (Part 3 Buildings) received by the city on or after January 1, 2021 must demonstrate achievement of the proscribed steps in order to be issued and will need to demonstrate compliance prior to the closing of the building permit. Key requirements are for energy modelling and airtightness testing.

A Step 2 Part 9 building is expected to be 10% more efficient than a standard building code compliant structure.

The City of Fernie is working to secure funding for a grant program to provide incentives to assist with the transition to the BC Energy Step Code.

Details of this program are available on the city’s website; however, until the city has secured funding, the grant program will not commence.

For more information on the BC Energy Step Code, please visit https://energystepcode.ca/.

City of Fernie

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