By Brian Redlein It must be said, that the single biggest item holding up new building approvals at DOB these days seems to boil down to one word: Energy. With greater awareness of human impact on global climate in recent decades, many building regulators throughout the United States began to realize… View more
By Penny Laughlin Interested in putting your mark on Energy Policy? The Dob is currently accepting applications from members of our industry – to serve on the NYCEC Advisory Committee. This group will help develop and review amendments to the NYC Energy Conservation Code. The DOB is looking for participants who… View more
By Renee Sosnowski The DOB is proposing to repeal several Rules relating to Elevators. The proposed Rule: – Repeals rules relating to the safety code for existing elevators and escalators; – Repeals rules relating to the safety code for machine-room-less elevators (machine-room-less elevators do not require a separate machine room because… View more
By Bruno Caligara Landlords of multifamily buildings are legally required to install and maintain window fall prevention/guards. All landlords must include a “Window Guards Required” notice for new tenants, in bold face and at least (10) point type. The notice must be signed by the tenant indicating clearly whether a child of ten… View more
By Frank Fortino We’ve written previously about the trend towards finished outdoor spaces in new construction. As tower after tower appears across the City, we’re seeing more demand for outdoor spaces – gardens, terraces, seating areas. Making these spaces intimate requires the addition of fixtures, and a preference among designers is… View more
By Frank Fortino We speak often of building materials, and how the evolution of these materials shapes our industry. As time passes, new material make old ones obsolete. They pave the way for construction techniques impossible to imagine in the past, and these techniques in turn speed up project timelines. New… View more
By Johan Soltani Under the previous Code, commercial or mixed use buildings with non-residential use that were greater than 420 feet high were required to have 2 egress fire stairs. This is about to change. While intended to be part of the 2014 Code rollout, a zoning issue delayed the change. … View more