Using Risk as a Basis for Establishing Tolerable Performance: An Approach for Building Regulation

For engineers and designers, the performance environment promises greater opportunities to apply analytical tools and methods to design safe, cost effective, and aesthetically pleasing buildings. For regulators and enforcement officials, performance-based approaches are often met with scepticism and concern, as the desired performance is not always well defined and agreed, the perceived certainty associated with compliance with prescriptive design requirements is no longer be assured, and there is concern that the data, tools and methods – necessary to assure that performance-based designed buildings achieve the levels of performance and risk deemed tolerable to society – are lacking. To address some of these critical issues, a risk-informed performance-based approach is being explored for establishing tolerable levels of building performance, with the aim to better connect tolerable risk, performance expectations, and associated design criteria. Use of risk-informed performance-based approaches being considered in Australia, New Zealand and the United States are discussed. 1.