Building code and construction regulations may sometimes seem extremely tight and tough to get around if you are planning a new building or even an extension to your existing property. Planning laws however are there for a reason and they have been growing over time to meet with the needs of both builders and residents. Dino Tomassetti Jr is a man who knows these planning laws very well and he spends a great deal of his time working with companies to ensure that they are able to meet with the strict codes which they have. We caught up with Dino just last week to ask why there is so much regulations with regards to construction, the answers are in fact very logical indeed.
The Safety of Residents and Builders
Most of the building code which we have in place was put there by way of a reaction. Over the years we have learned that certain practices on the building sites or certain materials which we used are no longer healthy or safe, and so the code has of course been updated to ensure that this is something which doesn’t continue. Let’s take the example of wearing hard hats on the construction site, which is now mandatory, it doesn’t take a genius to guess how that law came about.
Maintaining Identity
In some cases there are laws put in place which are there in order to preserve the identity of a particular place. LEt’s take for example Marrakech in Morocco, here there are no buildings in the city center which are allowed to be built taller than the grand mosque. As we can see in this instance, this rule has been put in place because of their efforts to maintain the cultural identity of the place. We see similar laws implemented all over the world.
Respect For Fellow Residents
Something which is also a fundamental aspect of building code is the need to always consider fellow residents prior to undertaking a new construction job. This is why when someone wants to get planning permission they are first legally obliged to give notice to those in their locality. This gives fellow residents the option to appeal the permission on various grounds. For example you could appeal if the new project was going to restrict your view or block sunlight, as well as for things such as the noise pollution and disruption that the machinery would cause.
These rules and laws have been implemented over time and they will continue to do so. If we look at what is happening right now for example, we have more and more building code being added to represent a more eco-friendly approach towards building and the construction process. This is certainly an area that we will see grow in coming years as more sections and articles are written into the code to reflect new things which we discover. Those planning laws may be a frustration, but they are there with reason.
