BC's Energy Step Code Moves Up a Tier for New Construction

The BC Energy Step Code sets increasingly demanding energy-efficiency performance targets in tiers, or "steps," that new buildings can be required to meet, layered on top of the base BC Building Code. Rather than prescribing specific materials, it sets a performance target — measured through building envelope and airtightness testing — and lets designers choose how to hit it.

Local governments in BC can choose which step to require for new construction within their jurisdiction, and the province has been moving the highest step toward becoming the standard requirement over time, part of a published roadmap aimed at all new construction being net-zero-energy-ready by 2032. Builders working across multiple BC municipalities can find themselves meeting different step requirements from one project to the next depending on what each local government has adopted.