Last year, the State Construction Control Bureau of Latvia (BVKB) prepared 691 reports on construction monitoring. Violations were reported in 208 or 30% of all cases, as reported by BVKB representatives.
In nine cases all construction work has been suspended in all or part of the construction site. The reasons for the suspension of construction work are related to the non-fulfilment of the conditions for the commencement of construction work included in the construction permit or the performance of construction work in accordance with the construction project.
Building inspectors report that often construction work is carried out in accordance with changes in the construction design, the impact of which on the mechanical strength, stability, fire safety and safety of use of the load-bearing structures has been assessed only by the developer of the construction plan. In situations where the developer of the construction design has not adequately assessed the impact of changes in the construction design, an independent assessment is not ensured and the level of supervision of the construction design is reduced.
Last year, a total of 1 097 building inspections were performed, including 252 physical ones. 23 buildings were deemed unsafe and closed off.
32 buildings were deemed to be in excellent state. Problems were found for 197 buildings – the most common problems are the absence of handrails and their filling, unmarked height difference and glazed surfaces, the possibility of elements of the facade falling off, unsafe wiring, as well as arbitrary construction work.
Since some building owners ignore deadlines when it comes to ensuring public safety, it is necessary to take actions to improve the technical condition of the property (to eliminate the danger in mechanical strength and stability, safety of use, or to eliminate the consequences of arbitrary construction), BVKB reports.
Analysing the findings prepared during the control of the operation of the buildings, BVKB concluded that in 100 cases the owners of public buildings of the third group have failed to carry out periodic technical inspections of the buildings even the said obligation had to be performed by the majority by the 31st of October 2024.
At the end of the previous year, the periodic technical surveys were carried out on about 54% of all the public buildings of the third group for which the deadline for the aforementioned task had already passed.
Last year, 1 019 new construction merchants were registered in the Register of Construction Merchants, but the total number of registered active construction merchants has reached the record – 7 001, informs the BVKB. The bureau explains this with the information measures carried out by the BVKB during the implementation of the Grey Economy Restriction Plan for 2024 –2027.
A total of seven construction practice certificates were issued in 2024.
In the last year, complaints about possible violations of professional activities of 13 construction specialists have been reviewed, including decisions on termination of the case in eight cases without detecting violations, in one case minor violations of professional activities of construction specialist have been identified, in three cases, due to professional misconduct, decisions were made to issue a warning, but in one case, due to a professional misconduct, a decision was made to issue a warning. Four complaints of alleged misconduct were forwarded to other building specialists’ certification boards.
BVKB informs that the Construction Information System (CIS), developed by BVKB in 2024, has had a period of rapid growth, including the development of new data exchange solutions. Currently, 13 construction, seven registers, four operational processes and one CIS support service are available.