What is the Building Policy Collaborative?
Within Power Ahead Colorado, the Building Policy Collaborative – commonly known as the BPC – supports local governments across the Denver region to advance regionally consistent building codes and policies targeting new and existing buildings that reduce building-related climate pollution and improve building performance.
Through October 2029, the BPC will assist DRCOG member jurisdictions in adopting and implementing building energy codes, transparency policies, and performance standards that meet or exceed state minimums. The collaborative offers local governments capacity-building subawards, peer-to-peer problem solving opportunities, and research support.
Building Policy Collaborative Goals
2026-2027: Local governments collaborate through the BPC to develop regional model building codes and policies.
2027-2029: The majority of DRCOG communities are working towards adopting a building code that meets or exceeds the state minimum code, and energy transparency policies for residential, commercial, and multifamily properties.
2030-2035: The majority of DRCOG communities have adopted and are enforcing building code that meets or exceeds the state minimum code and energy transparency policies. DRCOG communities work towards adopting building performance policies for residential, commercial, and multifamily properties.
2035-2040: The majority of DRCOG communities have adopted and are enforcing building performance policies.
Engagement Timeline
Fostering meaningful, coordinated dialogue with industry and community partners is essential to the Building Policy Collaborative’s success. The table below describes key phases of engagement.
Phase 1: Early Industry and Affordable Housing Engagement to Inform Draft Policy Approaches
March – July 2026
Key Activities
High-level industry information-sharing sessions (targeted at existing convenings) to build understanding of Power Ahead Colorado and clarify how and when industry input will shape policy development.
Convening experts and advocates working in affordable housing to identify key priorities for building code and policy development, understand concerns or challenges with advancing codes and policies, and begin co-creating solutions for policy development and implementation.
Phase 2: Focused Engagement with Key Industry, Community, and Affordable Housing Partners to collect input on Draft Policy Approaches
September 2026 – January 2027
Key Activities
Conduct focused discussions and listening sessions with community-based organizations to elevate equity, affordability, and community-benefit perspectives; gather feedback on draft policy approaches.
Conduct focused building owner and industry discussions and listening sessions to understand practical feasibility challenges and workforce capacity, get policy review from technical experts, and gather feedback on draft policy approaches.
Continue convening affordable housing experts and advocates to review draft policy approaches for feedback.
Upcoming Engagement Opportunities:
Building Industry Informational Webinar
When: Tuesday, May 19, 10:00–11:00 AM MT
Register here for the webinar
Who: Builders, developers, architects, engineers, contractors, building owners, energy efficiency service providers, affordable housing partners, and other building industry stakeholders working in the Denver Metro Area.
The BPC is a regional initiative to improve building performance and advance alignment on building codes and policies across the Denver Metro Area through a voluntary partnership of local governments coordinating future code and policy updates. The presentation will focus on the BPC's policy and code goals and the anticipated timelines for policy development.
Attendees will walk away with:
- An overview of the BPC initiative and regional direction.
- A preview of the policy roadmap and timeline.
- An understanding of how and when industry partners will be engaged in the future as policies are developed.
Affordable Housing Experts and Advocates Convening – Date to be announced soon
Do you work within the Affordable Housing sector? We want to hear from you!
We will be convening a focus group in June 2026 to share information about the BPC and the building policy efforts we’re undertaking and gather key feedback and insights from you on what we need to consider throughout our building policy development and implementation efforts to ensure policies are supportive and not barriers to affordable housing efforts in the region.
Questions? Contact buildingpolicy@drcog.org.