Programs

Codes & Standards

For a building material, codes and standards define your market’s existence. NCMA is actively involved in a wide variety of codes and standards forums on behalf of its members. Through a collective industry voice, NCMA advances and protects the competitive position of members products, as well as promoting safer and more resilient buildings and communities. Whether it’s ensuring structural performance, fire safety, energy efficiency or the quality assurance of manufactured concrete products and systems, NCMA staff leads the way in the development of innovative solutions to these core ideals, through research, analysis and the championing of specific codes. Explore current codes and standards priorities below.

Current Priorities

Industry Engagement

Awareness and support of codes and standards efforts is crucial to success. Through the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards, NCMA promotes industry collaboration to achieve goals.

Reflect Industry Advances in Codes

NCMA actively works within codes and standards arenas to bring the latest technology to the market. Current activities include overhauling masonry veneer requirements, research on CMU design strengths, and including segmental retaining wall standards in the building code.

Foster Product and Process Innovations

Innovation advances markets, and codes and standards need to keep pace with evolving trends. NCMA works to be sure that codes and standards can help bring innovations to the marketplace. Current initiatives include a design guide for dry-stack concrete masonry, new standards for concrete ballast block and dry-cast adhered veneer units, and exploring paths to create a consensus SRW design standard.

Protect Competitive Position

Building codes and standard should be fair for all industries and be focused on producing safe, resilient, and economical structures. NCMA monitors a wide variety of forums to ensure that unnecessary burdens are not imposed on member products and codes continue to promote life safety as the primary objective.

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Questions? NCMA’s staff can take you through the nuances of each program, what they mean and how they can raise the bar for your business, and the industry as a whole.