Indoor turf in the Denver Metro, starting with the code edition at your address.

Your city’s code edition may not be Denver’s.

Denver builds on the 2024 International Building Code and Fire Code with its own amendments, published as the 2025 Denver Building Code and the 2025 Denver Fire Code and amended again in November 2025.

Your suburb may be on another edition. As of September 2026, Westminster’s building division lists the 2021 building and fire codes, in effect since June 1, 2024. Broomfield adopted the 2024 codes, fire code included, effective April 15, 2026. Thornton applies the 2024 building codes to permit applications from July 1, 2026. Castle Rock lists the 2024 building and fire codes for new permit submittals.

In Erie, the two books are different editions. The town’s code page lists the 2021 building code and the 2024 fire code, adopted as the fire district adopted it, for permit applications from April 24, 2026. So get both editions for your address, not just the building code’s.

In some suburbs, a fire district reviews your plans.

West Metro Fire Rescue does plan review, permits and inspections for new construction and changes to existing buildings. Its code table lists the 2021 fire code for Lakewood and 2024 for unincorporated Jefferson County. Check the county assessor’s record before you trust a mailing address: some unincorporated Jefferson County properties carry a city or town address.

South Metro Fire Rescue also runs two editions. Its board adopted the 2024 fire code for unincorporated Jefferson County in its district on May 4, 2026, and its 2021 code stays in effect for unincorporated Arapahoe County.

In Douglas County, the lists disagree. The county’s Building Division lists 2024 building codes effective July 1, 2026 and the 2024 fire code adopted July 14, 2026. West Metro, which covers only part of the county, still shows the 2018 fire code for unincorporated Douglas County. If your space is outside a town in Douglas County, ask the county and your fire district which edition will review your plans.

Moving your gym into a Denver shop or warehouse? Ask about an architect.

In Denver, many interior alterations can be drawn without an architect or engineer, but not ones that affect life safety. The building code counts a change of use or occupancy among those, along with changes to the exits and an increase in the number of occupants. You also can’t use a building, or part of one, for an occupancy other than the one on its certificate of occupancy until the building official issues a new certificate.

The turf is the simpler part. Floor coverings and carpeting are on Denver’s list of work exempt from building permits, though they still have to meet the code’s interior finish chapter. If the space last held a different use, ask Denver’s building department about a new certificate and an architect’s drawings before you sign the lease.

Bring your code answers to the free visit.

Whatever your edition, get three answers from the office: how it classes a turf floor, which fire-test reports it needs for the turf and pad as one system, and whether corridors, exits or sprinklers raise the rating. If the turf will be glued down, ask whether that needs a fire permit too. Our article on indoor turf for a gym explains the tests.

On the visit we measure the training space, check the existing floor and talk through lanes, markings and transitions. Have the floor plan ready, with exits and corridors marked, and know whether sprinklers cover the whole building. Our indoor facility turf page covers turf, pad and marking choices. For Colorado’s rule on new turf, read does artificial turf contain PFAS?