Effective and efficient Building Control

Building regulations provide a solid base for safe, healthy, energy efficient, environment friendly and comfortable buildings. To be sure that the requirements are met in designs and in construction, an appropriate system of building control is indispensable. In the Netherlands some recent striking accidents with buildings have put the importance of the quality of building control high on the agenda. The task of technical checks and inspection lies traditionally in the hands of the local authorities. Several investigations into the performance of local building control have shown that the quality is beyond acceptable. Besides the effectiveness of the control system, also the efficiency of permit procedures and actions of plan checking and site inspection has been an important drive to search for alternative policies. A comparative study of building regulations and systems of building control in eight European countries has shown a broad variety of organization models with a severe role for the private parties. Self-control by architects and technical advisors is about to be introduced in the Netherlands. This paper presents an assessment guideline for the certification of this process and discusses the chances of this alternative as a contribution to effective and efficient building control.