The Wkb is coming!

Relief and joy among the construction industry when the 1^e Chamber on July 12 agreed to the "Rietkerk motion" on the effective date of the Environment Act and thus the Building Quality Assurance Act (Wkb). With this, the Chamber is speaking out in favor of the January 1, 2023 effective date. This applies initially to the consequence class 1.

Good news

"After years of preparation and investment, this is good news for us," let Ton Jans, director KOMO/KiK, know. "With KOMO and KiK we have been thinking about structural solutions for the Wkb from the beginning. Starting with the development of the KiK tool that was formally authorized in June, the KiK tool and the use of certificates to reduce risk and save costs for quality assurance. We are currently working on the Wkb performance ladder and the Wkb process certificate."

"It is a logical choice of the 1^e Chamber, the construction column is ready for the final spurt to Wkb," he continued. "Now quality assurance companies can start recruiting and training staff, the competent authority can adjust its work processes, the tools can develop further and the construction column can continue to practice in pilot projects."

Opportunities

Ton Jans does not think in problems, but in opportunities that the Wkb offers: "We often forget that the Wkb offers many advantages. I'll mention a few. Construction quality goes up because the quality assurance officer checks what is actually being built. He does this on the basis of the technical requirements of the Building Decree (later the Building Works Decree, ed.), among other things. This improves the position of the client and the consumer. Also because simultaneously with the Wkb, the Civil Code changes and the builder gets burden of proof. Municipalities get with the file competent authority resources for the management of buildings."

Certified concept homes
"And certainly not least important: the Wkb helps substantially with the huge construction task. The call for standardized concept homes is great. In the current situation, each municipality assesses the design of the concept house in the application. Under the Wkb, the quality assurance agency looks at whether the home as a whole is certified and how the home scores on the Wkb performance ladder. This creates a national "RDW function" for building concepts. This is where KOMO has an important role to play. With certification of the new concept house and a place at the top of the Wkb performance ladder, a nationally approved concept can be used everywhere and the number of counters decreases enormously! The procedure time will be greatly reduced with this."

Trust

"The market is regaining confidence with the decision," experiences Ton Jans. "You can see that, for example, in quality assurance companies that are certifying themselves. For example, this month we welcomed a new quality assurance company, Bylaer advies- en tekenburo with director Arjan Kleijer. This trend I expect will continue in the near future. The construction column is in the starting blocks, put the date in your calendar: January 1, 2023!"