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To cite this article: George A. Atkinson (1973) Building regulationsthe international scene, Building Research and Practice, 1:5, 278-284,
DOI: 10.1080/09613217308550258
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09613217308550258
Building regulations
the international scene
by George A. Atkinson
UDC 69.009.182(047.1)
or kind of organisation haying a particular responsibility and its level, the way or ways in which requirements are stated, and the procedures involved. The
figures, even in simplified form, illustrate the complexity of building control systems. There are a
number of matters for comment.
The first is that while in all countries public safety and
health are a major concern they are dealt with more
comprehensively and extend further into matters of
comfort and convenience in some countries, eg
Germany, Scandinavia and Scotland, than in other
countries.
The second is that fire safety, in part because it
depends on the way a building is used as well as how
it is designed and constructed, tends to be the concern
of fire as well as building regulation authorities; it is
much the same with requirements relating to places
of employment, where labour protection authorities,
like the UK factory inspectorate, have an interest in
the use as well as the design and construction of
buildings.
A third point is that, while regulations may implicitly
be concerned with conservation of resources and
control of pollution, these matters are rarely explicit
and may, like the English Thermal Insulation (Industrial Buildings) Act 1957, deal only with some
aspects of a problem.
A fourth point is that either directly through building
regulations, or separately through technical instructions and guidance related tofinancing,standards
of quality of some categories of building - for example,
housing, schools, hospitals - are controlled either to
safeguard public investment or, as for example in the
UK National Housebuilders Registration Council's
scheme, to protect homeowners. The ten year liability
of builder and architect for major structural defects
enshrined in the civil codes of Belgium and France
has a similar objective, (ref 2).
But there are other features which are noteworthy,
(ref 3).
1 The hierarchy:
(i) general enabling law,
(ii) regulations or orders giving a broad framework
of requirements, and
Building Research and Practice Sept/Oct 1973
Performance-based regulations
It is the trend towards performance-based regulations
which is the concern of this paper. The World Health
Organisation issued in 1961 a report by an Expert
Committee on the Public Health Aspects of Housing,
(ref 4), which attempted to define 'a healthy residential
environment'. It discussed design requirements in
terms of space, services and facilities, also environmental factors - basic thermal requirements, protection from excessive noise, dampness, ventilation,
illumination - and protection against natural and
man-made hazards.
The report identified two
fundamental types of legal control. The first is basic
law, general and enabling in nature, which should
establish the level of performance to be obtained. The
second is regulation, more detailed and more specific.
It recommended that the legislation should be of
'performance type'.
Thermal requirements
279
BUILDjNG REGULATIONS/coniinued
Municipality
nance
(Where made)
HI*Building Permit Tests by Federal
Local AuthoriMaterials Testing
ty, ie MuniciLaboratory
pality
IV Legal Code
SIA and other norms Courts of Law
('Rules of Building')
*Fees borne by building owner
280;
_i
281
Housing in Europe
282
JJ
283
BUILDING REGULATIONS/continued
3 Information about design data, methods of calculation, assessment and test accepted as good practice.
4 Procedures for examination of proposals by calculation, test, or expert judgment to check whether
performance is likely to satisfy criteria.
5 Procedures for control of quality of manufactured
products used in the work.
Conclusions
To sum up:
1 In all countries public safety and health are, and
will remain, a major concern of building regulations.
In a number of countries regulations now deal
comprehensively with matters relating to the internal
environment and extend requirements to include
matters of comfort and convenience.
2 Building regulation systems vary considerably in
objectives, responsibilities of authorities and
designers, and in operational methods. But most
depend on national, or sometimes, international
codes and standards - or norms - for technical
back-up. It is these norms, rather than the regulation systems themselves, which are appropriate for
harmonisation at an international level.
3 Requirements are increasingly being specified in
performance terms. Examples of the approaches
adopted and problems which arise in practice are
given for thermal and acoustic requirements. The
development of performance based requirements is
dependent on the availability of satisfactory
methods of specification, assessment and test, and of
appropriately skilled personnel and facilities. It is
' therefore a slow, continuing process rather than
a rapid, once for all operation.