2nd Annual Conference for Construction

The Federal Guild for Construction of the Austrian Economic Chamber and Austrian Standards organised the second Annual Conference for Construction Law and Construction Standards within the framework of the "Austrian Construction Dialogue Board (Dialogforum Bau Österreich) - Working together for clear and simple building rules" joint initiative. Around 160 experts from the construction industry discussed ideas for a simpler and more legally certain framework for construction within Austria.

Participants also included Austrian MP Josef Muchitsch (SPÖ) as well as Philipp Schrangl (FPÖ) and Gerald Loacker (Neos). The focus of this year's lectures and podium discussions was the current problems and fields of action in the area of conflict between regulation and (self-)responsibility.

 

Thinking differently in the construction industry

"The room for discussion offered by Dialogforum Bau is having an impact. While in the past, legislative regulations and standards tended to be criticised in general terms, we now have much more sophisticated discussions peppered with factual knowledge. This underlines how important it is that the stakeholders are also well versed in the rules and standards. Only if we are able to describe problems in detail can we talk constructively about them in a qualified manner and find solutions. Working in close collaboration with experts and decision-makers in legislative bodies, we can thereby work on specific improvements", said Andreas Kovar, event moderator at the end of the 2019 Annual Conference for Construction Law and Construction Standards, as he summarised the outcomes of the numerous lectures and podium discussions. Looking back, a lot of progress has already been made.

While discussions focused on perceived cost drivers and therefore the primary cause of cost-intensive construction in Austria at the first Annual Conference for Standards in 2018, we have already seen a recognisable shift in the discussions. Standards were no longer the scapegoat for a lack of affordable housing, but simply one element of the problem that needs solving. Alongside the rising costs of land, architect Dietmar Walberg in particular highlighted the high quality standards of every stakeholder as well as the consequences of deregulation measures as the main cost drivers for construction projects. Herwig Pernsteiner from the Austrian Association of Not-For-Profit Construction Consortia (Österreichischer Verband gemeinnütziger Bauvereinigungen) also spoke about the social aspects of housebuilding and stressed that proportional spending on housing of around 30% has hardly changed over the last 40 years.

This can be traced back to a shift in mindsets in response to the activities of the "Austrian Construction Dialogue Board - Working together for clear and simple building rules" initiative. Knowledge of the areas of conflict between legislation, standards and other basic regulations, but also often an excessive application and interpretation of them, has stimulated a rethink in the construction sector.

Excessive interpretation of standards

Both in Germany and Austria, the state no longer adequately defines its objectives in laws but prefers to outsource them to standards. Matthias Witte from the DIN Standards Committee Building and Civil Engineering (NABau) summed up this approach as "I really couldn't care less how you, dear builder, achieve your objective". "You can't write objectives into standards and then declare that they are legally binding," argued Witte.

Alongside excessive interpretation of standards and the issue of housing costs, when it comes to liability, the delegates called for more responsibility on the part of decision makers and private individuals and controversially discussed the role of experts.

Demystifying ÖNORM B 1300 and 1301

The shift in mindset could also be seen in the lectures and subsequent podium discussion on the two controversial standards governing property safety checks, ÖNORM B 1300 and ÖNORM B 1301, during which the issue of which building regulations should be correctly applied to various properties was put forward. The different perspectives of experts, owners and property management companies revealed that the numerous stakeholders have hugely diverging interests.

The 2019 Annual Conference for Construction Law and Construction Standards can be summed up as the Austrian Construction Dialogue Board initiative is taking effect, but still has a long way to go.

The 2019 Annual Conference for Construction Law and Construction Standards was organised in collaboration with the Construction Agency of the Austrian Economic Chamber and media partners a3 Bau and Österreichische Bauzeitung.

 

Recommended link

Learn more about the "Austrian Construction Dialogue Board – Working together for clear and simple building rules" initiative at: www.dialogforumbau.at

 

Presentations

• Andreas Kovar: Status Quo Dialogforum Bau Österreich – was bisher verbessert wurde (PDF – 0.7mb)
• Mag. Doris Wirth: Gordischer Knoten ÖNORM B 1300 & ÖNORM B 1301 (PDF – 6.6mb)
• Dipl.-Ing. Architekt Dietmar Walberg: Kostentreiber für Bauprojekte (PDF – 1.3mb)
• Dr.-Ing. Matthias Witte: Normungsroadmap als Baukostensenker (PDF – 0.9mb)
• Dipl.-Ing. Roland Jörger: Normungsroadmap als Baukostensenker (PDF – 0.9mb)
• DI Herwig Pernsteiner: Baukosten aus Sicht des öffentlichen Wohnbaus (PDF - 1.4mb)
• DI Judith Engel MBA, MSc: Haftungsfragen aus Betreibersicht (PDF – 0.6mb)
• Thomas Sigl: 5G steht vor der Tür (PDF – 3.4mb)

 

Tagungsband

Read a detailed summary of all the topics discussed at the event in our Tagungsband (PDF – 4.4mb).

 

Fotos & Videonachbericht

Sehen Sie Speaker, Statements und Impressionen der Veranstaltung in unserem Online-Fotoalbum sowie auf YouTube.