Building Codes

The rules will affect new residential construction projects funded by the federal Housing and Rural Development agency. Now, lawmakers are pushing the agency that oversees the nation’s two largest mortgage backers to adopt similar measures.

The St. Louis County administration building must be updated to stay in compliance with Clayton city codes. County Executive Sam Page urged the county council Tuesday to act now.

Regularly updated codes can also aid with disaster resilience. The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates adopting current building codes can avoid hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.

St. Louis has put the work in to become a leader in stopping greenhouse gas emissions. Can it make good on its lofty ambitions?

The federal workplace safety agency has been investigating the deaths of six people at the facility since a tornado hit it in December.

Safer, Simpler St. Louis County says the number of different codes in use in the region is confusing for contractors and can present a safety hazard for residents.

Six people died when a tornado hit the Amazon warehouse, which labor advocates say highlighted the unsafe working conditions at the company.

Missouri and Illinois have few state regulations directly related to tornado safety. Some elected officials are now questioning whether current building requirements are enough to protect residents from powerful storms.

Local agencies are already examining if there were any structural issues with the building and how a tornado’s trajectory may have affected parts of the warehouse.

Engineering researchers from the Missouri University of Science and Technology are spending several days in Jefferson City to study the destruction caused…