The building industry has been shaken for more than half a year by a situation where the balconies of new houses cannot be used properly due to the aftermath of a balcony accident that happened in the spring. The residents can't get to the balcony of the apartment they bought, and the authorities don't seem to know how to proceed.
The Ministry of the Environment classifies railing structures with glass as load-bearing structures. The Ministry of the Environment's regulation on load-bearing structures (177/2014) unequivocally states that when load-bearing structures are designed and implemented based on Eurocodes and the relevant national choices, all essential technical requirements are met in terms of strength and stability as well as fire and operational safety.
The Ministry of the Environment has defined a load for balcony railings that deviates from the Eurocode (Qk = 0,3 kN, load area 50 mm x 50 mm). The loads for balcony railings are given in the regulation 4/16 of the Ministry of the Environment.
After the balcony accident in Lahti, in 2016, OTKES has already given a recommendation to add a dynamic load to the loads, but this has not been done.
Now, building inspectorates require a separate pendulum test based on § 1007 of the operational safety regulation (Ministry of the Environment's Regulation on building operational safety 2017/11) to demonstrate the operational safety of balcony glazing, even though the regulation on load-bearing structures also covers operational safety requirements.
In March, the Ministry of the Environment and the Federation of Municipalities instructed building inspectors to instruct those starting construction projects to pay attention to the requirements regarding railing structures. If necessary, the building control authority can also require an external inspection in accordance with section 150 c of the Land Use and Construction Act. According to the section, the building control must state in writing the reasons and content of the demand, on the basis of which the person embarking on the construction project can obtain the opinion of an independent and qualified expert. Although the section does not state anything about the approval of the expert in question, it has generally been done so that the building control has ensured the competence and independence of the people making the statement.
The expert appointed to give the opinion decides what investigations and investigations must be carried out. If, on the basis of the investigations, the expert can conclude that the requirements are met, he writes a statement about this, which is submitted to the building control. This statement is no longer accepted in building control, but based on it, it can be concluded that the statutory requirements have been met.
At the moment, the most difficulties are in choosing the necessary reports and studies. The choices are made by an expert, but some building inspections do not accept certain testing methods.
So now we are in a situation where it is not enough for building supervision that the structures have been designed and implemented as required by the regulations and that this is proven by the statement of the external inspector intended by the law.
In the opinion of all parties, it is indisputable that the legislation valid at the time of the permit is followed for each building. That must be done in this case as well. We strongly support adding a dynamic load to the requirements for all types of level railings. However, it cannot be done afterwards, as has been done now.
Predictability and cooperation between the parties must be increased in official activities. Predictability is also the only right way from the point of view of property protection when undertaking a construction project; when starting a construction project, the requirements to which the project is committed must be known.
The article has been published in Rakennuslehti's Näkökulma section on 24.11.2023 November XNUMX.
Jani Kemppainen
Expert, technical requirements
jani.kemppainen@rt.fi +358 40 541 8090Building Construction Industry Association
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