with technical requirements and details. Within
building regulations, the process for approving
new or vernacular technologies can be very lengthy
and complicated. But codes tend to be much
more flexible and offer more scope to incorporate
vernacular or innovative technology as well as non-
engineered housing.
Building Permit
Such a permit allows an owner or developer to
construct a building. For it to be issued, a relevant
inspection body needs to be satisfied that the
planned building is intended to conform to existing
standards and regulations, and on a plot that is
allocated to building.
Certificate of completion
This is issued on completion of a building deemed
satisfactory by inspectors. Where a building is
constructed in phases, and further funding depends
on a previous phase being completed, interim
acceptance forms may be provided by inspectors
to show that construction has been completed
satisfactorily up to that stage.
Code of practice
This is a technical guide for good design or
construction that is not statutory. A code of
practice is either published separately, or as part
of a building code. A code of practice for design
will typically deal with loads (dead, live, wind),
materials (masonry, timber, concrete, steel etc.),
elements (foundations, walls, roofs etc.), and
special structures.
Decree
In the absence of a parliamentary system of
government, laws are made through decrees. In
some African countries building and planning
decrees made in colonial days are still in force and
have not been updated.
Legislation
Building legislation encompasses all legal
instruments for controlling building operations.
It normally takes the form of one or more acts of
parliament or legislature, e.g. a Building Act or a
Housing and Urban Development Act.
Norm
Building norm is a term used in francophone
countries and sometimes in India. Norms can be of
either the codes or regulations model.
Specification
This is a target that a material, component,
building or part thereof is required to meet to be
deemed to perform satisfactorily. They cover a large
range of physical and user-related characteristics,
such as strength and deformation of materials or
components, weather-tightness, safety, hygiene and
comfort. Specifications are statutory and published
separately from regulations or codes.
Standard
A standard is a document stating the essential
properties of buildings, building components and
building products, including their dimensions,
characteristics and performance. The also often
contain information on how such properties can
be verified. In general, standards are related to
building regulations by virtue of the fact that
the properties stated satisfy requirements in the
regulations, and it is for this reason that reference
is often made to standards in the regulations.
Standards regulate design by specifying such items
as room size, distance from adjacent buildings,
types of material and construction techniques.
There are also standards for specific materials such
as cement, steel, aggregate, timber and bricks.
Standards can be prescriptive, e.g. that parts of
a building need to have certain dimensions, be
of a particular shape, or built in a specific way.
They can also be performance standards, defining
characteristics such as load-bearing capacity,
weather tightness, or wind resistance, but leaving
owners and builders much more scope to decide
for themselves what designs, materials and
technologies (including vernacular ones) they are
going to use to comply with performance criteria.
Performance standards are more appropriate for
people-centred reconstruction than prescriptive
standards. Minimum standards are sometimes
applied to low-income housing, to increase the
potential of poor people to build within the law.
Starter standards are a form of minimum standards
which builders have to comply with initially,
but have to improve on over time. Incremental
standards are standards that begin with the
minimum standards but indicate a process for
reaching full standards over time.
Acknowledgements
The Toolkit on PCR has been developed through
institutional collaboration between Practical Action
and the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies. The collaborators
are particularly thankful to Otto Ruskulis, who
produced an early draft of this tool and to
Sophie Ault and Vasant Pullenayegem for their
contributions and comments. The production of
this tool has been generously supported by the Tony
Bullard Trust.
Resources
1. Aysan, Yasemin et al. (1995) Developing Building for
Safety Programmes: Guidelines for organizing safe
building improvement programmes in disaster-prone
areas, Intermediate Technology Publications, London
(now Practical Action Publishing, Rugby)
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