According to the persons in charge of Norcontrol, the firm «promotes, since it was created in 1981, quality, safety and environment improvement in those companies aiming to position among those setting the standard in world economy». This company turns over 65,100 euros a year and is organized in four divisions: Industrial division comprising the areas: Mechanical, Electric and Standard Inspection; Construction division: Construction Area and Area of public Works; Division of Quality Management and Environment: Environment Area, Area of Consultancy and Quality, Area of Safety at Work, Area of Mining Engineering. The signing of the agreemrnt between Norcontrol and the University of Granada involves several actions, as a Shopping Centre in Antigua, Fuerterventura, with an area of 24,000 m2. Currently about thirty projects have been checked with methodologies to guarantee the fulfilling of the quality requirements that would involve benefits in these early stages of the process: Reduction of the proceedings application limits by the insurance company. Rationalization of the drawing up process of certain documents of the project. Reduction of the costs as a consequence of anomalies detected at the project stage. Increase of quality and, as a consequence, of consumers´ satisfaction.
According to Professor Ordóñez García, «the agreement involves an important contribution to contribute to the knowledge and communication between university and business world. In the same way, fruit of the good relationship between the construction area of the Norcontrol company and the University, a series of students of the Higher School of Civil Engineering are joining the company. This way the cycle ends satisfactorily, as regards the training and later joining the work market by these University students».
The passing of the Law of Construction Planning (LOE) of the 5th of November of 1999, governs such a complex sector as construction, where there is a number of agents involved. The LOE establishes as obligatory the verifying of the adaptation of the planned foundations and structure to the geotechnical characteristics of the land, forcing to analyse them as regards structure calculation and geotechnical study; documents that must form part of the project.
The analysis of the project stage in which the characteristics of the construction are determined, as regards materials, structural tipology, foundation solution, defining the building units that take part in the tightness and waterproofing, etc. is basic to achieve the objective of a higher quality construction that satisfies the consumer´s requirements.
The explanatory preamble of the Law of Construction Planning (LOE) of the 5th of November of 1999 says: «The construction sector of the building is one of the main economic sectors with evident repercussions in the society and in the cultural values that entails the architectural heritage and, however, it lacks an appropriate regulation». The intention of the LOE is «to provide continuity to the law 6/1998 of the 13th of April on soil and assessment system, arranging building construction and overcoming the discrepancy between the current legislation and reality because of the inadequate current regulation of the construction process.»
According to Professor Javier Ordóñez, «the law intends to answer the social demand, providing buildings with higher quality and structural safety; given the importance of the project stage in the building process, a new concept has been established: the project is the whole of documents that define and determine the technical exigencies of the buildings. On the other hand, its obligatory nature is regulated for the constructions included in the field of the Law; the necessary coordination among the partial documents included, as well as the documentation for users for the appropriate use and maintenance of the building, is specified».
To face consumer guarantees the property developer must underwrite an insurance covering the material damage caused to the building for the failure to comply habitability conditions or those affecting structural safety, in ten years. This insurance materializes in a decennial policy underwritten with an insurance company, which will be assessed with the services of a Control Organism that makes risk appreciation easier. Such institutions carry out an assessment of the documents making up the project with the aim of analysing the risks of the construction, issuing the appropriate reports that will be the basis for the issuing of the costs of the insurance premium.
Reference:
Javier Ordóñez García
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Granada
Phone number: 958 249438
