By Melissa Baldridge

Denver touts itself as one of the nation’s greenest cities — from bike ridership to outdoor lifestyles to mass transit to number of LEED buildings per capita. As recently as 2011, was named fifth nationwide in an overall green-city ranking, sixth for its buildings, and first for environmental governance.

But that which doesn’t grow, dies.

The Queen City is now a laggard – both in its building energy codes, which haven’t changed for years, and in enforcement. Many of the metro area building departments have moved their building codes to the 2012 version. That means their energy codes are 15 percent more stringent than the 2009 codes.

Denver’s residential energy codes are stuck in time in 2009, and its gutted residential requirements don’t require building envelope or duct testing – labor-intensive work that shows whether homes and duct systems leak. Nor does Denver require “commissioning” of commercial building systems like hot water heating, lighting and the building “shell” – making sure they function as designed.

Yet the city plans to implement 2015 building and energy codes next year – a gigantic leap for builders trying to squeak by swamped code officials doing clipboard walk-throughs, to an era of advanced home and building performance testing.

PLAYING CATCHUP

I interviewed Denver’s new Community Planning and Development Department manager, Brad Buchanan, to ask how he plans to solve big leaps and long lines at Denver’s building department, and how Denver can reassert itself as a green building leader.[i]

“Denver recently underwent an evaluation of its commercial building energy code compliance and enforcement practices as part of the January 2014 commercial energy code compliance audit. Results showed the overall compliance rate was at 68 percent,” says Buchanan.

He says his department turns around commercial project requests in 13 laudable business days, but he contested my estimate of months’ waits for residential permitting. (Of all my clients working in Denver, exactly none get through permitting in less than three months. And God help them if they have “variances” or historic landmark issues that need addressing. The time tacked on for those approaches a year.)

“We know we have some work to do.”

DOING MORE WITH LESS

The recession gutted not only the construction industry but also building departments across the country. Denver is still playing catchup, especially in this go-go market that’s night-and-day different from, say, five years ago. Some building officials I work with regionally have as many as 20 inspections a day to cover, which is nearly impossible unless they’re adjacent.

One strategy has been to hire combination inspectors – officials who specialize in more than one type of code compliance – or in ramping up overtime. Buchanan says he has six combo inspectors now, and he’ll continue to cross train and new-hire those with multiple specialties. “Community Planning and Development has contracted with third-party inspectors in the past [like roofers after tornados], and is open to the possibility of doing so again,” he adds.

Another way to shorten building department waits is with better technology, and Buchanan says he has a new permitting software program scheduled to launch later this year (though it’s years in production and could be on its way to obsolescence once it hits the streets.)

“A later phase, set for 2015, will involve a customer-access component. We also hope to leverage this innovative software system, which has been implemented in many cities nationally and internationally – to pilot tablets for our inspectors,” he says.

“It is a ways off, but it’s where we’re headed.”

ALTERNATE ROUTES

Some building departments like Boulder, Longmont and Cherry Hills Village allow third-party green certifications like LEED and National Green Building Standard to serve as energy code compliance. Not only do building owners get an above-code building certification, but such an alternate path has the unintended consequence of outsourcing code inspections. Buchanan says it’s not gonna happen in Denver.

But the biggest concern with Denver’s quantum leap to 2015 is the on-site commissioning and testing required for commercial and residential. Buchanan says this won’t be a problem.

“Fortunately, most contractors do jobs in multiple municipalities, not just Denver, and a number of the surrounding municipalities … have already adopted the 2012 International Codes. The 2015 edition primarily is a clean-up version of the 2012 edition,” says Buchanan. “We believe many local contractors are already familiar with the 2012 edition, but we plan to do outreach to our customers as well as local building groups to ensure that they understand the changes.”

If you build in Denver next year, fasten your seat belts – it could be a bumpy ride.

- Melissa Baldridge

[i] Mr. Buchanan responded to my questions via email.