Welcome back to CodeWatch, SmartBrief’s monthly examination of the latest codes and standards affecting the built environment.
Five years after the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Fla., the response from codes and standards bodies is becoming clearer across multiple organizations and code cycles simultaneously.
Builders and developers are also adapting to a landmark federal push to bring data centers under grid reliability rules, live amendments circulating for the 2026 National Electric Code, a congressional fight over nuclear reactor oversight and a push to consolidate duplicative chemical safety requirements. Meanwhile, ASTM committees are working to improve the reliability of the tests used to characterize site conditions and environmental compliance.
Champlain Towers South, five years later
A July 2026 article in STRUCTURE magazine by engineers at Martin/Martin provides the most comprehensive recent accounting of how code and standards bodies have responded to the 2021 partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Fla, which killed 98 people, as the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s final report inches closer to publication.
On the existing-building inspection front, the International Code Council appointed a committee in September 2024 to develop ICC-1500, a new Standard for Existing Building Safety Inspections. The draft targets annual maintenance inspections for building owners and licensed-professional assessments every 10 to 15 years, with a goal of referencing the standard in the 2027 IBC.
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ Guideline for Structural Condition Assessment of Existing Buildings (ASCE/SEI-11), last updated in 1999, is under full revision. Another committee formed in 2023 is still active and is targeting publication by 2028. A key charge for the committee is providing clearer guidance on communicating urgency to building owners when assessment findings require prompt repair action.
On the concrete side, NIST’s investigation has not identified any deficiency in current ACI 318-25 provisions relative to the Surfside collapse, as the building was designed under the 1977 edition, and current provisions on punching shear, structural integrity detailing and chloride exposure have been substantially strengthened since then. However, ACI-562, the performance-based code for assessment and repair of existing concrete structures, gained new traction when it was incorporated by reference into the 2024 International Existing Building Code. Engineers in jurisdictions adopting IEBC-24 now have a clear code path to apply ACI-562 methods for evaluating and repairing existing concrete buildings.
For steel, the next edition of AISC-360, due in 2027, will substantially expand Appendix 5 on existing steel structures. The draft from August 2025 more than triples the appendix in length, broadening scope to cover evaluation, alteration, addition and repair. The Masonry Society is separately developing TMS 405 for existing masonry, with a first public review planned for summer 2028 and reference in the 2030 I-Codes as the target.
ACC-led coalition seeks unified federal chemical safety standard
A coalition of 75 business and industry organizations, led by the American Chemistry Council, has sent a joint letter to EPA, OSHA and the Office of Management and Budget requesting a single, unified framework for occupational chemical regulation.
The coalition’s argument is that current practice under the Toxic Substances Control Act creates overlapping requirements between the two agencies, with EPA and OSHA sometimes setting different safety obligations for the same chemical in the same workplace. The letter argues this dual-agency structure produces operational confusion for facility operators without enhancing worker protection.
The coalition says a unified federal occupational chemical safety standard would enhance EPA-OSHA interagency coordination by aligning regulatory duties with each agency’s area of expertise and eliminating redundant or conflicting facility-level requirements. Lawmakers addressed the same concern in House Report 119-215, directing EPA to update its formal agreement with OSHA to clarify jurisdictional boundaries.
Water quality and soil testing standards in motion
ASTM’s D19 water committee is developing two new proposed standards. The first (WK99903) establishes a unified test method for simultaneously detecting carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide in highly alkaline water using gas chromatography with a thermal conductivity detector. Existing methods under D19 could only measure one of those gases at a time, and none addressed alkaline water matrices, leaving a gap for industrial wastewater management and environmental monitoring at facilities that process or discharge alkaline effluent. The second (WK87463) proposes a standardized infrared test method for detecting microplastics in water, combining automated infrared microscopy for smaller particles with visual characterization and benchtop spectrometer confirmation for larger ones. Without a shared method, results across labs aren’t comparable, and reported numbers can’t be trusted, says ASTM member William Lipps. That comparability problem matters as regulators and project owners increasingly require microplastic monitoring in stormwater, industrial discharge and drinking water supply contexts.
Separately, ASTM’s D18 soil and rock committee has announced that D4318 — the standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index of soils — was automatically withdrawn after it did not clear ASTM’s required consensus review cycle under Section 10.6.3 of the organization’s regulations. The standard is now under ballot for reinstatement (WK99823), and the 2017 version remains available for purchase and use in the interim. D4318 is foundational to geotechnical practice: Atterberg limits are among the most basic characterizations of soil behavior and are referenced in site investigation, foundation design, and earthwork specifications across the industry. The withdrawal is procedural rather than technical, but AEC firms relying on D4318 in contract specifications or regulatory submittals should monitor the reinstatement ballot and verify that any references to the standard are defensible during the gap period.
FERC orders NERC to develop data center reliability standards
On July 16, in Docket No. RD26-7-000, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order directing the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to file new or modified mandatory Reliability Standards addressing risks tied to integrating computational loads into the bulk power system. The filing deadline is December 31, 2026.
“Computational loads” as defined in the order cover data centers, AI server farms, cryptocurrency mining operations and other IT-intensive facilities drawing large amounts of power from the transmission grid. FERC cited NERC reports documenting multiple grid disturbances in which computational loads caused or contributed to Bulk-Power System instability and concluded that voluntary timelines did not provide sufficient certainty to protect reliability.
The order also directs NERC to revise its Rules of Procedure to require registration of computational load entities by December 31, 2026 and to file a Phase II work plan for additional standards by March 1, 2027. The action builds on a DOE Secretary’s direction from October 2025 ordering FERC to initiate rulemaking on large-load interconnection and on NERC’s own Q2 2026 Large Loads Action Plan, in which the organization stated it “has determined that it must act now to mitigate the risks associated with large computational loads.”
This is significant because any new construction or major expansion of a data center or AI compute facility will increasingly need to account not just for electrical service capacity, but for how the facility registers under NERC’s evolving reliability framework.
Separately, FERC recently approved a final rule adopting NERC-developed Reliability Standards specifically governing inverter-based resources. The rule, largely following a December 2024 notice of proposed rulemaking, imposes on inverter-based resources the same types of performance and reliability expectations that have long applied to traditional synchronous generators. It takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
Three TIAs proposed for the 2026 NEC
The National Fire Protection Association has released three proposed Tentative Interim Amendments to the 2026 NEC.
The first, submitted by Megan Hayes and Bryan Holland from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, proposes an exception to Section 700.6 governing bypass and isolation of transfer equipment. The exception would apply in situations where all processes relying on the emergency system can be safely disabled during maintenance without jeopardizing human life, or where the building is unoccupied and fire protection systems are fully functional. The submitters noted that revisions in the 2026 NEC creating Article 624 (for Electric Self-Propelled Vehicles Supply Equipment) inadvertently created a conflict with Article 625 (EVSE), as language accepted for one article was not incorporated into the other.
The second TIA addresses that EVSE/ESVSE conflict directly, seeking to resolve inconsistencies between the two articles introduced when Article 624 was drafted using Article 625 as a template. The submitters argued the split created a conflicting standard for the EVSE and ESVSE industry.
The third TIA, submitted by Daleep Mohla of DCM Electrical Consulting Services, proposes correcting heading designations in Tables 270.122(B)(1), (B)(2) and (B)(3), which were mis-labeled during the 2026 cycle.
The volume of TIAs arriving immediately after publication underscores how quickly field issues surface once a new NEC edition enters actual use.
NEMA pushes back on nuclear reactor oversight reform
A House subcommittee recently advanced legislation that would remove the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards from mandatory independent review of new reactor proposals, including new commercial nuclear plants and novel reactor designs. Under the bill, ACRS could only initiate such reviews when specifically requested by the NRC.
NEMA’s Todd Sims, senior director of regulatory and industry affairs, spoke to the energy code implications in the broader context of the nuclear push, noting that building energy codes remain a critical tool for managing grid demand pressure as new power-intensive facilities come online. Sims said that weakening energy codes could raise utility costs for homeowners while placing additional strain on a grid already under stress. Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee opposed the nuclear oversight provision, arguing it reduces the independence of safety review. The bill heads to the full committee before any floor vote.