Last year the State of New Mexico Construction Industries Commission adopted a new building code for alternative materials and methods for non-standard building construction in New Mexico. This code grew out of the old experimental permit process for approving new or different building techniques for buildings in New Mexico.

The new code was an attempt to standardize materials and methods for straw bale construction and other similar building systems that are becoming more commonplace in the New Mexico built environment. The commission set up a task force composed of builders, architects, code enforcement officers and two of the commissioners, Mr. J.B. Pruitt representing the General Contractors and Mr. Craig Gosling representing the Architects. The result of the work of the task force was the adoption Alternative Methods and Materials code.

Currently, in New Mexico there is an Adobe Code, a Rammed Earth Code that will go to public hearing soon, and the Alternative Methods and Materials Code. The purpose of these codes is to provide a set of standards whereby design professionals, building officials, contractors, and the general public can pursue alternative construction in New Mexico, without special permission granted from the Commission.

The codes allow single story construction of Pumice-crete, single story non-loading bearing construction straw bale construction and its variations for residential uses. The commission still must approve all commercial construction. The codes require an architects seal for all alternative materials and methods permits. It is the intent of the code to hold the Design Professional responsible for all non-standard construction techniques and the final product as built in the field.

In the past the commission has approved engineered sealed drawings for two-story pumice-crete construction. Structural calculations were required as part of the code review for those projects. The commission also has approved a nonload bearing straw bale post office building, a nonload bearing straw bale restaurant, and a tent structure for a youth detention facility in McKinley County.

The commission's position is to allow alternative construction in New Mexico as long as there is no apparent risk to the public welfare or safety. The Division has worked diligently to assist design Professionals, the general public and Contractors who wish to build anything under the Alternative Building Codes.

Great care was taken to ensure that the New Mexico Codes would result allow the construction of alternative construction while enforcing the codes within the UBC.

It is a concern of the Commission and the Division that the building codes allow for a homeowner to build these alternative structures; however, there is a need to protect the future homebuyer as well. One of the issues the Division looked at was regulating the Certificate of Occupancy to ensure that alternative buildings would be re-inspected at the time of resale. This proved to be too cumbersome for the Division to track and enforce at this time but might be revisited after there is some data concerning these structures.

We recommend that the architectural community watch for opportunities to get directly involved in code revisions and writing of new codes. Not only can this be an exciting task, but also it is our greatest opportunity to affect the governmental policies and laws that shape our profession.