Within short time, the Eurocodes will be accepted as the official rules for design of new structures in most European countries. Also for the existing stock Eurocodes will be a suitable starting point for the assessment as these codes are expected to be based on the best and most recent knowledge available. However, it would be uneconomical to require all existing buildings and civil engineering works like bridges to comply fully with these new codes. Already without the introduction of a set of new codes, the assessment of existing structures differs from the design situation. This paper describes the main differences with respect to the relevant reliability requirements and develops a set of partial factors that could be used in those cases.
Abstract:In 2008, two governmental committees presented their conclusions on strengthening the role of the private building sector in building control. In 2011, three new studies were commissioned by the government to address perceived problems. One of them was an integral study, executed by ERB (Foundation Expertcentre Regulations in Building), RIGO (Research Institute for Real Estate) and TNO (Research Institute for Applied Technologies), to innovate the whole building regulations system. It led to proposals to redefine responsibility and liability for all parties. This study states that by an effort of yearly €100 million, unnecessary costs up to €1 billion can be avoided and a real quality push will take place in the building and real estate markets. The goals to reach are to minimize the administrative burden for the building owner and to enforce the construction industry to build conforming to the regulations. This paper discusses the ERB study and the given proposals. The ERB study demonstrated that a quality push is needed which potential will lead to less costs for building owners. It also shows that proven solutions, part of the regulations, might be of help for all parties involved.
Based on this evidence and many other examples, this paper advocates a drastic overhaul of the system, in which a distinction is made between simple, standard projects, less simple solutions that can be assessed with performance requirements, and high-value projects which are handled in accordance with the science of probabilistics. Next to or in addition to the Council of State, there has to be a technical body appointed under statute with non-departmental public body status, which can issue binding rulings in technical disputes, with very short procedural delays.
Dutch building regulation is under construction. After the report of the commission "Fundamentele Verkenning Bouw" in 2008, several studies have been done on the principals that the commission outlined in its report. Local authorities and parties in construction were invited to start experiments with a more privatized system of building control. But this faced a lack of participation, partly due to the impact of the crisis. The minister responsible for housing and construction invited in 2011 a "Bouwteam" to develop an agenda for action for construction. In 2012, 17 action teams started to focus, speed up and simplify the planning and development of construction. Recently, the two teams related to building regulation presented their plans. The first was a roadmap towards private building control, the second, a proposal for an independent body to answer questions on constructions plans that do intrinsically but not legally meet the standards of building regulation. There is considerable controversy regarding the way that this implementation team is paving its path towards private building control. While the minister for housing conformed himself to a subsidized private implementing team, the Dutch Parliament has expressed its own priorities for regulation: insured guarantee to protect users and owners, a role for local authorities regarding safety and acceptance of buildings and simplification of building regulation and control for simple construction works. The parliament held a round-table conference to get informed about private building control. Recently, a proposal by the minister for housing was discussed. Further debate will be needed to decide about the next steps in innovation building regulation, which will take place in the upcoming months. ERB/RIGO (Foundation Expert Centre Regulations in Building/Research Institute for Real Estate) have developed own proposals for the public-private relation regarding development and construction of buildings. They expect that their proposals might be of help. The proposals are laid down in several publications and partly realized in experimental development of "to be approved" technical solutions. This paper reflects on the differences between their proposals and these of the roadmap, on the possible outcome of the ongoing debate and its implications, legal and technical, on building regulation and on legal and contractual liability. This paper tries to give an inside view on the development of regulation and the pros and cons of the proposals, starting from a theoretical outline of building regulation.
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