The Need to Develop a Building Code for Iraq

Building Code is a legal document that provides a minimum level of safety and health for the constructions to make the public live in safe buildings. People recognize the importance of constructing the buildings in safe conditions, since the dawn of civilization. Many countries around the world were facing different kind of disasters such as fires, earthquakes, etc. These disasters made builders develop methods for safe construction to avoid any disaster. Later, these developments became codes and standards. Since the middle of the last century many countries established its local codes. This research represented a review of the importance of the codes with a short history for them. Furthermore, reviews for some national codes (Egyptian, Syrian and Arabia Saudi) were done as well as comparison between load’s correction factors, geotechnical requirements and materials used in concrete. Most of the national codes were highly based on the ACI, British and Germany codes and standards. In addition, a review and comparison were presented for International codes (American (ACI) and European (EC)) through a case study. EC code is becoming more common for the world. Eurocode gives more flexibility to the user to employ their own standards (national annex). To find the best suitable foundation design to be used in Iraq and the differences when using the American and European codes, a building model was designed and analyzed using STAAD Pro., and SAFE softwares for three locations (Mosul, Baghdad and Basrah). The combination loads used in the two softwares were for ACI and EC codes. Results obtained were very similar. The type of foundation to be chosen for Mosul location is spread or continuous. For Baghdad location the suitable type is raft and for Basrah the choice is raft and piles. In view of the fact that Iraq has no national code, engineers and designers were depending on the ACI and British codes and standards. It is very important to have an Iraqi code because it will improve the quality and safety of the design and construction of buildings as well as its economic value.