GP Russ Chaney
Executive Director
2010 Will Be a Year of Expansion, Both at Home and Abroad
Happy New Year, everyone! There is much in store for The IAPMO Group in 2010 and I’d like to use this first article of the year to share with you what is on the horizon.
In past articles, I’ve written about construction on the building located just two doors down from the existing World Headquarters facility.
By May 2010, the corporate offices and Code Department will relocate to the facility — to be known as The IAPMO Group World Headquarters West Building. The existing facility — known as The IAPMO Group World Headquarters East Building — will then have enough space for the test lab and product certification businesses to expand. By providing additional space for growth, these business units will be in a position to enhance their support of their customer’s needs.
As staff grew throughout the current facility, the Ron Ridenour Training Room was converted into the electrical testing laboratory. Space was limited, thus this particular training room had to be utilized for this purpose. A smaller conference room was converted into offices, leaving only one meeting room available at the current facility.
Several meetings are held at the World Headquarters facility throughout the year, so it has been a real challenge facilitating those meetings with only one meeting room available. I am happy to share with you that the West Building will not only include a new and improved Ron Ridenour Training Room, but will also provide for two additional public meeting areas.
Built to seat 100 students in a classroom setting, the new Ron Ridenour Training Center will also include everything necessary to offer a training session, ISO registration courses, committee meetings and a host of other events. The West Building will also include an amphitheatre, which will seat approximately 40 people for seminars, lectures and other events. Another meeting room will be the Board Room, properly suited to host meetings of various types, including the annual meeting of the Board of Directors.
Construction should be complete the first week of May 2010, just in time for a tour and reception held at both World Headquarters Facilities (the East and West Buildings) in conjunction with the 2nd International Emerging Technology Symposium. The reception is planned for Tuesday evening, May 11, 2010, and will host tours for all guests of the Symposium co-hosted by IAPMO and the World Plumbing Council. The Symposium will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel here in Ontario, Calif., on May 11-12, preceding the American Council for Energy Efficient Economy event, which will take place May 13- 14, also at the DoubleTree Hotel. Visit www.iapmo.org for registration and event information.
Pete DeMarco, IAPMO’s director of special programs, is coordinating the Symposium and has also tentatively scheduled Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to deliver the keynote address on Tuesday morning, May 11.
The scheduled international speakers, lecturers and panelists will be focusing their topics on issues related to sustainable technology in the built industry. I hope to see you there.
Further on green issues, by the time you read this article the Green Plumbing and Mechanical Code Supplement will be available to the public. If you do not yet have your copy, you may get one now by calling the customer service department at 800-85-IAPMO. This revolutionary document will provide jurisdictions with recommended sustainable solutions to marry together with their existing plumbing and mechanical codes — any plumbing and mechanical code. The draft version of this document caught the attention of experts in the Middle East and India, as they have sought for quite some time plumbing and mechanical provisions addressing water conservation and the reduction of energy. Very soon, IAPMO will publish, in coordination with the Indian Plumbing Association, the 2010 Green Plumbing and Mechanical Supplement of India. Reduced energy and water use equate to a reduction of expenses. In these economic times, this is a solution to a challenge with Which many jurisdictions are faced.
I would, once again, like to recognize the many experts who were involved in the development of this historic document.
Members of the Green Technical Committee — those who developed the publication — spent numerous hours over the past 20 months researching, debating and inviting the public’s comments, all in an effort to introduce to the built industry a green plumbing and mechanical code supplement that will suit just about any jurisdiction’s sustainable needs. These experts represent the environmental community, the engineering profession, inspectors, contractors, government officials and other vital aspects of our industry. IAPMO Board member Bill Erickson led the committee and coordinated its efforts with staff members Dave Viola, Pete De Marco and Maria Bazan.
This was only possible with the support of the IAPMO Board of Directors, led by Bob Siemsen. The concept of the supplement was the brainchild of Immediate Past President Ron Rice and former board member Doug Fredericksen, who played an integral role in developing the idea. Thank you, everyone!
One of IAPMO’s newest partners in the green arena is GreenPlumbers USA, led by Steve Lehtonen. I am very pleased to report that GreenPlumbers India is now operational.
Ranjini Venugopal, IAPMO India staff member, will head up the effort to promote and support seminars and personnel certification that are central to the GreenPlumbers India program.
Ranjini is based in Bangaluru and is working closely with other IAPMO India staff members, as this new program works well in support of the UPC–India.
Leading up to the implementation of this new program, GreenPlumbers staff member Doug Kirk traveled to India in December 2009 to train 12 Indian instructors, who will soon be instructing others on the new curriculum.
Assisted by IAPMO India staff members Subhash Deshpande and Abdul Matheen, Doug spent roughly ten days ensuring that the future instructors were crystal clear in their understanding of the material. I would like to thank the IAPMO India staff that supported Doug and would also like to recognize Doug’s efforts in tailoring the program to the needs of the Indians. Truly outstanding work!
The next step for IAPMO and GreenPlumbers is GreenPlumbers China. In December 2009, I was to attend a meeting with Megan Lehtonen of GreenPlumbers USA and IAPMO staff member Jin Luo. The goal of the meeting was to meet with representatives of the United States Commercial Services offices in Beijing, as well as governmental representatives of the People’s Republic of China, in an effort to explain the proposed GreenPlumbers China program. Unfortunately, I came down with a high fever and was unable to board my flight.
The scare of the H1N1 virus has officials in each country very nervous, thus the airline instructed me not to fly. Despite my absence, Megan met with Jin Luo, IAPMO’s Beijing Managers Si Min Wu and Bernie Li and the above noted key representatives. By the end of their meeting, my flu symptoms subsided and an agreement was reached wherein GreenPlumbers China will be operational by the last quarter of 2010.
Switching gears a bit to domestic activities, IAPMO regional manager Don Swords retired in late 2009 as a result of medical limitations.
As a consequence, IAPMO will be hiring a replacement in the near future. I hope to update you in this regard next issue. I wish Don better health in the years to come.
IAPMO’s Director of Field Operations, Dwight Perkins has reported that California is on schedule to adopt the 2010 California Plumbing Code and California Mechanical Code, based on the 2009 editions of the Uniform Plumbing Code and Uniform Mechanical Code, respectively. The codes will be published by IAPMO under license with the state of California and will be available for purchase as early as July 1, 2010. It is my understanding that the codes will officially take effect on Jan. 1, 2011. Those of you handling plumbing or mechanical installations in California should contact IAPMO to obtain a copy of either or both of the California Codes to ensure you have a copy by the time they go into effect.
Speaking of codes, by the time you read this article, the deadline to submit proposed code Changes to the 2012 editions of the UPC and UMC will have passed. Staff is hard at work putting the proposals into monograph form for the Plumbing and Mechanical Technical Committees’ review when they meet from April 26-30 in Milwaukee, Wis. The committee meetings are open to the public. In fact, I encourage your attendance and participation as it provides the committee with a better understanding of one’s position with regard to proposed code changes. This is the beauty of the ANSI consensus process — inviting the opinions of all affected parties. Following the Milwaukee meeting, the final actions of the committee on every proposed code change will be published in the Report on Proposals.
That publication will be available in August, in time for your review and consideration of a comment for the Technical Committees’ review and action in 2011.
Look to the next issue of Official and the IAPMO Website for the Call for Proposals to the 2012 editions of the Uniform Solar Energy Code and Uniform Swimming Pool, Spa and Hot Tub Code.
In closing, I am very optimistic about this year. Many of the economic indicators conflict on this subject, but from the built industry’s perspective what I’ve read indicates that the worst may be behind us. As a consequence, I am very excited about 2010, as it will permit us to grow in more certain times. This results from the fact that the IAPMO membership is some of the most loyal individuals in the plumbing and mechanical industry. It is their dedication and contribution to IAPMO that serves as the catalyst to our continued success and growth. 15 years ago, the industry suspected IAPMO would be out of business. With good luck, hard work and dedication from our core members, we continue to grow with a high success rate. I am really looking forward to
2010. I hope this year also brings each of you good health and prosperity.