The Financieel Dagblad reported today that following the partial collapse of a parking garage floor at Eindhoven Airport two years ago, the calculation rules for existing buildings with wide-slab floors have been tightened. Building owners will even be required to conduct an investigation.

Buildings in the highest risk category (consequence class) must be assessed by January 1, 2012. The highest consequence class includes buildings taller than 70 meters and buildings housing people with limited independence. What does this mean for you?

It article from September 30, 2019 reports that the new building regulations will reveal that many floors in the country will be too weak, necessitating expensive repairs of up to €1,000,000 per property. This reportedly affects hundreds of properties across the country. This applies not only to so-called "wide-slab floors" but also to derivatives of these floors.

The problem will have to be solved by applying external reinforcement, for example. Besides the costs, this will also take up considerable space and may permanently reduce the building's usability. The question then becomes who will bear the costs of any necessary repairs (including the evacuation of the building required for repairs) and who can potentially recover these damages from.

Whether the building owner is recoverable for damages will depend not only on the completion date but also on the contractor responsible for the design. If the contractor cannot be held responsible for the floor design, the question arises to what extent a contractor should have been responsible for the design. warn for the risk of applying this design. The assessment will depend on the knowledge and extent to which parties involved in the construction were involved in the selection, design, and implementation of the floor.

Building owners, developers, architects, constructors, (sub)contractors and suppliers who anticipate that buildings in which they are or have been involved will need to be inspected and/or fitted with external reinforcement or external anchors, would be wise to identify their responsibilities and any recourse they may have.

If you have any questions about these topics, you can (for an initial orientation) contact:
Bas van Vliet (b.van.vliet@wintertaling.nl or 020-3017750) and Floris Pijls (F.Pijls@wintertaling.nl or 020-3017753).