Even though cities in Iran date back to thousands of years, there has always been a lack of proper Building Codes.  For years, the government municipality (known as “shahrdari”) has been overseeing all construction and planning; along its many tasks has been the review and approval of building construction plans.  However their review process is based on outdated and inefficient building codes.

 In 1990, a section of the “Housing and Urban Development” began working on producing an updated set of building codes (including topics such as structural systems, fire safety, etc).  I began my collaboration with this section in 2003, as they were in the process of developing these codes. Over the span of fifteen months I produced a new set of buildings codes specifically for residential construction, which cumulated in “National Building Regulations:
Part Four: Building Codes” (مقررات ملی ساختمان، مبحث چهارم: قوانين معماری). 

Though this book is used in many universities and has become a staple for Architects seeking higher ranks, it is just the beginning of a long term process for better and advanced building regulations in Iran.