Legislation of illegal building before and after the law change

In June 2022, a new Building Act came into force, bringing with it changes to the process of legislation of illegal construction. As I deal with this issue on a daily basis, I decided do describe the changes between the two laws, what they mean for the architect or civil engineer and what thez mean fort he owners of the illegal buildings that need to be legalised.

In my thesis I will describe the process of legalising a building under the law. The different options that owners have for their buildings. The different ways of legalising and the documetation required for every specific way of legalising a building. I will explain the different terms used in the building legislation, for easier understanding. For me to understand why owners do not opt for legalising, I will also describe the cost and the timeframe for preparing the documentation.

I will present the changes in the field of legalising an illegal buildnig between the old and the new Building Act and, on the basis of the descriptions, wheter the changes are positive or negative fort he architect or civil engineer.

I will describe the process, procedures and problems that can be encountered when preparing the necessary documentation. To this end, I will describe the process in two different projects I have been involved in. In order to show the change between the two acts, I will describe the traditional legalising project, where the process has not changed with the change in the act, and a project of legalising of a building of longer duration, which has been simplified and accelerated with the change in the act.

Under the overreaching theme of 2022, a net zero future, I have briefly outlined ways in which we can reduce carbon production in existing buildings. I also presented a project in which I used my new knowledge about the legalisations of the building and in the process od the reconstruction of the building the methods described will be used to improve the energy efficiency and consequently reduce the cos tof living in the described building.

Given all the information I have gathered about the changes ans the participation in the legalisation projects, I will be subjective about the changes and how they affect the scope of work from the project designer’s side.