v ----------------Page (6) Break---------------- © His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the National Research Council of Canada, 2025 © Sa Majesté le Roi du chef du Canada, représenté par le Conseil national de recherches du Canada, 2025 Preface National Building Code of Canada 2025 The NBC sets out technical provisions for the design and construction of new buildings. It also applies to the alteration, change of use and demolition of existing buildings. The NBC establishes requirements to address the following five objectives: •safety • health • accessibility • fire and structural protection of buildings • environment Code provisions do not necessarily address all the characteristics of buildings that might be considered to have a bearing on the Code's objectives. Once the provisions of the NBC are adopted or adapted into law or regulation by an authority having jurisdiction, the provisions become the minimum acceptable requirements representing the minimum level of performance required to achieve the above-listed objectives that is acceptable to the adopting authority. The NBC establishes the criteria that materials, products and assemblies must meet. Some of these criteria are explicitly stated in the NBC while others are incorporated by reference to material or product standards published by standards development organizations. In some cases, references to standards are qualified to limit the applicability in the context of the Code. The NBC is not a guideline on building design or construction. This edition of the NBC succeeds the 2020 edition. Where a technical addition or revision has been made, a vertical line has been added in the margin next to the a ffected provision to indicate the approximate location of the new or revised content. No change indication is provided for editorial revisions or for renumbered or deleted content. Relationship between the NBC and the NFC The NBC and NFC each contain provisions that relate to the safety of persons in buildings in the event of a fire and the protection of buildings from the effects of fire. These two model codes are developed as complementary and coordinated documents to minimize the possibility of their containing conflicting provisions. It is expected that buildings comply with both the NBC and the NFC. The NBC covers the fire safety and fire protection features that are required to be incorporatedinabuildingatthetimeofconstructionorwhenthebuildingisundergoing alteration or change of use, or being demolished. The NFC contains provisions regarding fire safety and fire protection features that must be added to existing buildings when certain hazardous activities or processes are introduced into these buildings. Some of the NFC's provisions are incorporated by reference in the NBC and thus may apply to original construction, alterations or changes in use. Relationship between the NBC and the NECB The provisions in Section 9.36. of Division B of the NBC addres s the environment objective for housing and small buildings. This section's provisions have a similar scope to that of the NECB, except that they do not address lighting and electrical power systems. The NECB is referenced in NBC Section 9.36. as an acceptable s olution. In addition, the NECB contains provisions related to altera tions of existing buildings (AEB) that fall outside the scope of NBC Section 9.36.; for these cases, NBC Part 10 directs Code users to NECB Part 13 for the applicable energy efficiency requirem ents. vi National Building Code of Canada 2025 Volume 1 ----------------Page (7) Break---------------- © His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the National Research Council of Canada, 2025 © Sa Majesté le Roi du chef du Canada, représenté par le Conseil national de recherches du Canada, 2025 Preface Structure of the NBC The NBC is organized into three Divisions, which are distributed across two volumes. Division A: Compliance, Objectives and Functional Statements Division A defines the scope of the NBC and presents the objectives that the Cod e addresses and the functions that must be performed to help satisfy those objectives. Division A cannot be used on its own as a basis for the design and construction of a building, or for the evaluation of compliance with the Code. Objectives Objectives describe, in broad terms, the overall goals that the Code requirements are intended to achieve. They serve to define the boundaries of the subject areas the Code addresses. However, the Code does not address all the issues that might be considered to fall within those boundaries. The objectives describe undesirable situations and their consequences, which the Code aims to prevent from occurring. The wording of most of the objectives includes two phrases: “limit the probability” and “unacceptable risk.” The phrase “limit the probability” is used to acknowledge that the Code cannot entirely prevent those undesirable situations from happening. The phrase “unacceptable risk” acknowledges that the Code cannot eliminate all risk: the “acceptable risk” is the risk remaining once compliance with the Code has been achieved. The objectives are qualitative and are not intended to be used on their own in the design and approval processes. The NBC's objectives are fully defined in Section 2.2. of Division A.