Building regulations in Europe

The projection of safety and health of their citizens is a major reason for governments to draw up regulations for the built environment. In the course of time other points of departure, such as utility, energy economy, sustainability and economic motives have come to play a part. For these subjects technical requirements are formulated and the procedures for checking building plans against the requirements and issuing the building permits have been laid down in laws.
In search for ingredients for a uniform system of building control in Europe, Delft University of Technology (OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies) and the University of Liverpool (School of Architecture and Building Engineering) carried out an international research project into the systems of building regulations, implementation and control and the systems of technical requirements in the Netherlands, England, France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Belgium and Denmark.
This resulted in two books: 'Building regulations in Europe - Part I: A comparison of the systems of building control in eight European countries' (Housing and Urban Policy Studies, Volume 23) and 'Building regulations in Europe - Part II: A comparison of technical requirements in eight European countries' (this book).