Building Chicago’s Future –
Modernizing City Code
Presented by: Judy Frydland - Commissioner, Chicago Department of Buildings
In recent years the City of Chicago has modernized and streamlined its building permit process, making it easier and more cost effective to build, while maintaining high standards for quality and safety. The Department of Buildings is now moving forward on a multiphase effort to update and modernize Chicago’s building code.
Buildings Commissioner Judy Frydland will provide an overview and the latest updates on this ambitious undertaking, which represents the first comprehensive update to Chicago’s Building Code in over a half century.
Location: Maggiano's - Clark & Grand, Chicago
Time: 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Cost: (includes dinner)
Complimentary to CSI Chicago Members;
Nonmembers $55;
Student non-members $20
Registration: Due by March 19, 2019
Continuing Education: 1.0 AIA CES LU|HSW
Parking: Cash only valet service at Maggiano's or a parking garage one block east (Grand Plaza Garage 29 W Ohio).
Registration for this event is now closed.
See our event calendar to register to attend another event.
Student Scholarship Night!
- Learn how the Dept. of Buildings (DOB) is updating and modernizing its building code with input from technical experts and industry stakeholders.
- Discuss details on how the DOB will implement the updated code.
- Learn how the DOB's reforms streamline the permitting process and reduce the time it takes to obtain a permit.
- Understand local government’s role in helping to facilitate new construction, building renovations and investment in the community.
Presenter:
Judy Frydland serves as the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings for the City of Chicago.
The Department of Buildings is a 285‐person department with an annual budget of $37 million. The DOB enhances safety and quality of life for residents and visitors of the City of Chicago through permitting, inspections, trade licensing, and enforcement of the Chicago Building Code.
Since Commissioner Frydland’s appointment in 2015, the Department has implemented several reforms that have streamlined the permit process for all building projects, from single-family home renovations to large-scale developments, making it quicker and more efficient to obtain a permit than ever before. In 2017, the Buildings Department issued a record 48,408 permits. Under her leadership, the Department is modernizing City code to align with national and international standards. In fall 2017, Chicago became one of the first major cities to align with the National Electrical Code. The updated code improves safety requirements, advances sustainability, brings additional energy efficiency to Chicago’s booming building industry and can lower costs on electric bills for residents and businesses.
Prior to joining the Department of Buildings, Ms. Frydland spent 25 years in the Chicago Law Department working with various city departments, community groups and other stakeholders on the enforcement of building code, municipal health and business license regulations. In her role as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Building and Licensing Enforcement, Ms. Frydland enforced the city’s vacant building ordinance and implemented strategies aimed to preserve the city’s housing stock, closed down and revoked licenses for problem businesses engaging in criminal activity, actively preserved occupied residential buildings through circuit court litigation and city programs, aggressively prosecuted illegal signs and dangerous and hazardous rooftop water tanks, as well as enforced the Life Safety Evaluation (LSE) requirements for pre-1975 high-rise buildings.
Commissioner Frydland is the recipient of the 2018 “Labor Person of the Year” award from IBEW Local 134 and the 2018 “Building Industry Woman of the Year in Construction” award from the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago.
Ms. Frydland graduated from I.I.T. Chicago Kent College of Law, was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1990 and is a current member of the Chicago Bar Association. Ms. Frydland earned her law degree while working as a social worker and assistant administrator in a nursing home. Ms. Frydland also has a Master’s Degree in Community Health Care Planning and Administration.
-T.jpg)
CSI Chicago is a AIA CES Registered Provider (Provider Number S001).