EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Spanish Technical Building Code

Spanish Technical Building Code

Introduction

We are living in times of significant change. Quality requirements are a social demand and accelerating climate change and the irreversible rise in expense of non renewable energy mean that all social agents and groups involved in the construction of the city have had to review their activities.
Today it is not possible to continue squandering resources such as energy, water, land, or at least it won’t be possible for much longer.
For this reason, the sustainability, innovation and quality of buildings is framed within the strategic axes of government housing policy, with the aim of ensuring citizens have access to affordable housing, permanent or otherwise, and in an environment which allows them to fully exercise their rights as a citizen.

Description

The Technical Building Code, defined as the regulatory framework regulating the basic quality requirements that buildings must comply with, including facilities, to satisfy the basic requirements of safety and habitability pursuant to the Building Planning Law 38/1999 of 5 November, is aimed at improving building quality in response to increasing demand on the part of society and responding to this set of principles, established the general framework to encourage quality of buildings and give sufficient guarantees to their users against possible harm in their properties. It established a definition of the basic requirements that all buildings must fulfil, this being the core of the Technical Building Code.
The basic requirements include those relating to safety, including structural safety, protection in the event of fire and safety of use, as well as those of habitability which include health, hygiene and protection of the environment, protection against noise, saving energy and heat insulation.

Contact info

Housing Ministry
Paseo de la Castellana, 112
28071 MADRID
Spain
Javier SERRA MARIA-TOME, tel. +34 91 728 4047

Publication date

10/05/2006

Article info
Author: Housing Ministry

Links

Technical Building Code www.vivienda.es

Document type

policy

Themes

Urban Policy > Housing > Housing quality

Keywords

Housing design & standards, Energy efficiency