By Charles Carter, BSSC Board Chair and President of AISC and Jiqiu (JQ) Yuan, Executive Director of Multi-Hazard Mitigation and Building Seismic Safety Councils, NIBS

The 2020 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program (NEHRP) Recommended Seismic Provisions: Design Examples, Training Materials, and Design Flow Chart (FEMA P-2192) have been developed by the NIBS Building Seismic Safety Council for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to illustrate and explain some of the new changes in the 2020 NEHRP Provisions, ASCE/SEI 7-22, and the material design standards referenced.

The COVID-19 crisis presented architecture, engineering and construction companies, and code departments with an enormous challenge: transitioning an industry long reliant on personal relationships and in-person connections to a remote, digital environment. Like other hands-on sectors, builders and other trades can’t ply their trades over Zoom.

When it comes to working out details for the National BIM Standard – United States Version 4, figuring out how it easily can be applied in contracts has become a bit of a mantra.

“NBIMS has always had different chapters,” said John Messner, Chair of the U.S. National BIM Standard and professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at Penn State, during the BIM Council’s semi-annual meeting on June 9. “You’ll see parts of NBIMS v4 coming out this year. But it’ll be much more modular … clear, concise and shovel-ready, so it can be implemented.”