According to the actual data of the State Construction Control Bureau of Latvia there were 326 controls of public buildings performed in the first half of 2018, and 48% of inspected buildings were in a good and excellent condition.
The State Construction Control Bureau (SCSB) ensures supervision of service of public buildings in the interests of public safety. Our building inspectors evaluate conformity to the essential requirements regarding mechanical strength and stability, safety of use as well as environmental accessibility. Also, existence of lawless construction works has to be evaluated too.
48% of inspected public buildings in the first half of 2018 were in good and excellent condition, but 43% of them required specific amount of construction works to be performed with the aim to improve safety situation.
However, 9% of public buildings were qualified as unsafe. Most of them were abandoned grains, but restriction of use of the part of building in fact was introduced in five objects. Recommended solutions for owners: detected dangers should be eliminated, technical investigation of building or part of the building or construction products needs to be done, use of building or part of the building needs to be restricted and previous condition needs to be restored.
The most frequent discrepancies were disclosed regarding fire safety of buildings – 56%. The SCSB carries out close cooperation with the State Fire Safety and Rescue Service (SFSRS), and disclosed information on discrepancies on fire safety matters was transferred to the SFSRS. Lawless construction works were disclosed in 33% cases during the first half of 2018, but shortcomings regarding mechanical strength and stability were disclosed in 28% of the objects.
Obligation of the owner of public building is to carry out technical investigation during the service at least once per 10-year period. Moreover, regarding buildings, that have not been inspected during last 10 years, technical investigation should be done until 30 September 2019 according to the Rules of Cabinet of Ministers from 2 September 2014 No 529 “Construction Rules for Buildings”. Taking care about technical condition of the building timely is a precondition for obtaining objective data on technical condition and therefore facilitating future maintenance of the building.