There must be a statutory periodic inspection of constructions of large buildings, advises the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) on Wednesday. The council is issuing that advice following the collapse of the roof of the AZ stadium in the summer of 2019.
Following the collapsed roof of the AZ stadium, the OVV has drawn up a list of buildings with “serious structural defects” in the last twenty years. That turned out to be sixty.
Among other things, the collapsed parking garage in Eindhoven (2017) and the roof of the Grolsch Veste in Enschede (2011) are on the list of incidents, as are the collapsed roofs of an IKEA store in Amsterdam (2002), a GAMMA store in Nieuwegein ( 2019) and a Roosendaal sports hall (2002).
The United Kingdom has had a system since 2005 in which such incidents are recorded and analyzed. The Netherlands does not have such a system and “this limits the possibilities for structural learning”, writes the OVV.
In addition, the United Kingdom, like Germany, for example, has legal rules that allow building structures to be inspected once in a while.
After the collapse of a parking garage at Eindhoven Airport, a plan has been drawn up by the construction sector to improve the safety of structures during the design and construction phase, but once a building is finished, this check is hardly carried out.
Such a periodic check is also not elaborated in the law, while visitors “must be able to count on the safety” of a public building “, says OVV chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem.” This requires building owners to be alert to constructive safety. “
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