Development of Dutch building control (1982-2003): towards certified building control

Some deathly incidents in the beginning of the 21st century put building control high on the Dutch political and public agenda. Government, municipalities and private parties are working together on new more effective and efficient building regulation enforcementstrategies. One of these initiatives is the development of a system of voluntary process certification for checking building plans on compliance with the building decree (technical building regulations). Permit applications accompanied with a certificate of approval on plancompliance with the building decree will not have to be tested by the local authorities (municipal building control departments) anymore in the future. In 2003-2005 the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) has set up trials in which building plans were controlled by private parties that were certified for this purpose. Evaluating these trials, some questions emerged. One being on the significance and possibility of developing and implementing a special certificate for controlling small or frequent building activities to the building decree, within the voluntary process certification system. In this paper we present the outcomes of a research that addressed this question. The research also zooms in into the nature and volume of permit applications, the daily practice of Dutch building control and the permit fees collected. Prior to the research it was supposed that the efforts of the municipalities controlling small or frequent building activities could not be balanced with the income of these permit fees. We start this paper by taking a look upon the present state of Dutch building regulations and building control, with a special focus upon the period 1982-2003. In the second part of the paper we will present the mentioned research and discuss the present state of Dutch building regulations and control, both formal and daily practice. In the final part of this paper we draw conclusions upon possible alternative controlling processes for small or frequent building activities that might draw back administrative burden for both public and private parties and that might reach a higher level of compliance with building regulations.