Performance-based building regulation: current situation and future needs

Although performance-based building regulations are in use or under development in numerous countries worldwide, there remain significant challenges in adequately identifying and defining performance, in understanding and addressing diverse societal expectations, and in establishing robust performance-based regulatory systems. These challenges become intensified as the building construction market becomes increasingly global, with the resulting expectation that building regulatory instruments remain valid across borders and do not create barriers to trade, while at the same time address local and national needs without compromising local cultural and societal norms. Many of these issues are just now beginning to be explored, and there is significant opportunity and need for future research and development in these areas.