The growing importance of an accurate system of building control

Systems of building control have a long history. Technical regulations and control seems to be the subject of an ongoing debate between, on the one hand, those in favour of deregulation and reducing the administrative burden and, on the other hand, new quality demands that require government intervention. Currently in the Netherlands, both sides of this debate appear to be gaining in importance. Deregulation, as well as high targets for energy conservation, structural safety and reliable government are high on the politicians’ agenda. The desire for deregulation is leading to the opinion that greater emphasis should be placed on the responsibility of property owners, which could lead to less government intervention. However, the existing forms of quality control for private actors in the Dutch building industry seem to be of quite a low standard. Accidents occur and physical quality does not appear to be sufficiently important. As the CO2 and energy saving targets increase, stronger regulations and accurate building control become a priority. The paper addresses these developments. It presents an analytic model for systems of building control based on examples from European countries and conclusions and recommendations for developments in the Netherlands and possibly in other European countries.OTB Research Institut