Ontario to review building code for glass in high-rise balcony guards

The Ontario government plans to support a national standard for the use of glass in balcony guards and to take a second look at the Building Code, says Kathleen Wynne, the provincial Minister of Municipal Affaird and Housing.

TORONTO

Last June, Wynne announced amendments to the Building Code designed to help prevent glass balconies of new high-rise condominiums from breaking.

Then on Aug. 29, during Question Period at Queen’s Park, Richmond Hill Liberal MPP Reza Moridi asked Wynne how the new amendments to the Building Code will be applied.

“We’re considering these amendments as interim measures, because we’re going to be supporting the Canadian Standards Association in their development of a national standard for the use of glass in balcony guards,” Wynne replied.

“Then once that national standard has been put in place, we’ll review the standards we’ve put in place and determine if further building code amendments will be needed.”

With the amendments that took effect in July 1, construction firms are now required to use heat-strengthened laminated glass when glass is close to the edge of a balcony and to use heat-strengthened laminated glass or heat-soaked tempered glass where glass balcony guards are inset from the edge of the balcony.

The measures apply to builders who received building permits after July 1 and do not apply to buildings that were under construction before that.

In the Legislature last week, Wynne also pointed out the municipalities have the ability to conduct inspections in order to make repairs.

According to an advisory panel established by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, there were about 30 incidents of glass guard breakage during 2010 and 2011 on 11 buildings in Toronto.

One of the developers involved, Lanterra, announced in August of 2011 it would replace tempered glass on some of its balconies with a type of laminated glass designed to retain its structure and stay in place in the event of a fracture.

Earlier this year, the City of Toronto asked the province to make an emergency amendment to the Building Code and the Municipal Affairs and Housing Department established an advisory panel on glass panels in balcony guards.

The advisory panel report quoted from a report prepared by GRG Building Consultants for the City of Toronto, which examined six of the incidents and “identified the glass failure mechanisms as nickel sulphide inclusions in the glass and glass-to-metal proximity.”

DCN DIGITAL MEDIA