Thesis Defence: Natalie Jackson

This thesis addresses the role that building regulations and codes have in shaping the way in which the pre-fabricated building industry designs, manufactures and installs Relocatable Buildings (RB) used within the Institutional, Commercial and Industrial (ICI) sectors.  It looks at the history and development of the Relocatable Building industry with particular focus on their application and use in the Province of Ontario, within the larger North American context.  Familiar typologies under the umbrella of relocatable buildings include: Manufactured Homes, Emergency Shelters, Portable Classrooms and Industrial Accommodations[1].  Of these categories of relocatable buildings, the latter two will be the focus addressed within this work

The majority of relocatable buildings are manufactured and constructed without the direct involvement of the architectural profession.  Many of these buildings barely meet basic requirements of health, safety, durability, and occupant comfort that is expected of contemporary construction for all other occupied building typologies[2].  This problematic building type needs to garner greater attention from designers, regulators and building officials in order to set in place the framework for clearer regulatory guidelines and requirements for these structures.  Such a framework has the potential to lead to overall improvement of the quality of construction and product delivery within this sector.

This thesis illustrates proposed modifications of the primary documents which set the current regulatory framework for these buildings in Canada: the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z240 Standard for Manufactured Homes[3]; the CSA A277 Standards for Factory Built Buildings; the Ontario Building Code (OBC) 2012 edition[4]; and the National Building and model voluntary standards, intend to increase and improve the baseline expectations and requirements of building construction in this category with the intent of directly improving the quality of end product being generated by this billion dollar annual Canadian industry.  The resultant goal being that design and construction improvements based on changes in regulation, extend to benefit the lives, and day-to-day experiences, of users and occupants of these relocatable structures.  This thesis examines the potential, details and positive outcomes for revising the OBC to reflect the addition of this new chapter to the code.