The Metal Construction Association (MCA) continues to be involved with regulatory efforts in North America to address member concerns and issues regarding the use of metal in construction. The primary areas of involvement in 2016 will continue to be sustainability, fire performance and structural performance required to conform with regional and national building codes and standards.
MCA’s sustainability efforts will continue in the area of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and Health Product Declarations (HPD). These critical documents provide metrics concerning the performance of wall or roof assemblies, and allow the performance of one assembly to be compared to another assembly. This comparison is often a key deciding factor in the choice of product. As a greater portion of the design community demands information on the environmental footprint and the chemical make-up of today’s building materials, MCA’s work with EPDs and HPDs is important to create the best framework and comparative tools for metal products.
In the area of fire performance, codes continue to focus on the performance of product assemblies rather than individual components. The sum of the parts has proven to not always be the best or most correct way to evaluate wall or roof assemblies. The codes continue to search for ways to determine how fire resistant assemblies can be made, as well as how flame spread can be limited on the surface and within the wall and roof assemblies.
MCA is involved in several different testing programs including work with the NFPA 285: Standard Fire Test Method for Evaluation of Fire Propagation Characteristics of Exterior Non-Load-Bearing Wall Assemblies Containing Combustible Components, using various products and assemblies to understand and control real-world performance. Research into products and test methods used throughout the world continues to assist our members with system designs to achieve better fire performance.
2016 will also be an important year in the development of national codes for the structural performance of metal wall and roof cladding systems. New performance criteria will be introduced for inclusion in the International Building Code (IBC) that will impact the design of all cladding systems. New loading configurations will change the metal thicknesses and connections used in real-world construction and will lead to new testing for roof and wall panels.
MCA has also been involved with several long-term roof programs to determine uplift and deflection capabilities of roof assemblies. The association and its members have also worked diligently to understand rain screen capabilities of several metal wall cladding materials. Through MCA’s involvement in test programs and laboratory research projects, we continue to better understand the capabilities of metal wall and roof assemblies.
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Andy Williams is the director of codes and standards for the Metal Construction Association. He is a professional engineer who began his career in the wall cladding industry in 1982.