Quality assurance and special local conditions
On Jan. 1, 2024, the "Omgevingswet" and the "Building Quality Assurance Act" went into effect.
Do the permit check
With the permit check you check whether you need a permit and/or notification for the structure, or whether it can be built permit-free.
For certain structures, you need a construction notification + omgevingsplan activity permit. For other structures you need an environmental permit construction activity and environmental plan activity. The permit check will tell you.
What applies to the construction notification
If you need to file a construction notification, you are building under the supervision of a quality assurance contractor. You will also need an environmental permit for the environmental plan activity.
- You must engage/contract an independent quality assurance contractor before you can build;
- Your quality assurance contractor must check in advance that your building plan meets the technical rules;
- Your quality assurance contractor must document the risks in advance;
- Your quality assurance contractor must document in advance what measures must be taken to ensure that your building plan ultimately complies with the rules;
- The quality assurance contractor must prepare an assurance plan in which he defines the risk assessment and control measures. He must also indicate the quality instrument he is working with.
With this assurance plan, you, or your architect/building consultant/contractor, must submit a building notification to the municipality through the environment counter. You must also indicate which quality assurance agency you have contracted. This building notification must be submitted to the municipality no later than 4 weeks before you intend to build. If the notification is approved, you will receive a confirmation.
Once the permit is granted AND the notification is approved, you may start building.
Where do I find a quality assurance contractor?
In the register on the tlokb website you will find an overview of authorized quality assurance providers incl. their applied instruments.
Do you want to start building in 2024? If so, you need to take a number of steps before construction can begin. The video from IPLO shows what you need to do if an architect or contractor is going to do construction plans for you or if you are going to build yourself. The information in the video applies to remodeling no earlier than Jan. 1, 2025.
Special Local Circumstances
When building under quality assurance, specific local conditions or risks should be considered as a starting point for the risk assessment and assurance plan. Below you can read more about the 7 local conditions that could potentially play a role in your project. Please note, the list is not exhaustive, there may be other specific local conditions at a specific site.
1. Groundwater protection area (Baexem/Grathem).
Grathem, Baexem and its outlying areas lie in a groundwater protection area (see Map below). In the 'Omgevingsverordening Provincie Limburg' (effective from 1-1-2024) rules are included regarding
Groundwater protection areas. Think for example of groundwater withdrawals, soil energy systems, geothermal heat, boreholes, groundwork and construction. As a result, there may be specific circumstances that affect the building plan, in construction feasibility. Include this in the risk assessment.
The Environment Plan includes restrictive rules for these areas (Article: 51.4 environmental zone - drilling-free zone and Article: 51.7 environmental zone - groundwater protection area). These can be consulted via omgevingswet.overheid.Map
Within these zones, only activities necessary for water extraction or groundwater management may take place.
For the cores there are no rules included in the Environment Plan. Nevertheless, in the core of Baexem and Grathem the Limburg Environment Ordinance must be taken into account.
2. Ground heat interference zone
Soil energy systems placed at a short distance from each other can influence the temperature of the subsurface at the 'neighboring' systems. Therefore, soil energy systems placed at a short distance from each other (+/-150 m) can influence each other positively or negatively Via www.wkotool.nl you can find the locations of closed soil energy systems in Leudal. In this tool we have entered the soil energy systems known to us. This tool sometimes refers you to the municipality or province. For questions about this, please contact our front office Environment.
Soil energy systems are not allowed in groundwater protection areas (Baexem and Grathem).
3. Carrying capacity of soil
Through probing, you conduct your own investigation into the bearing capacity of the soil. This research may show that:
- Digging deeper is required. Then, in Grathem and Baexem, take into account the groundwater protection area and its rules (see above).
- You must perform excavation work in an archaeologically valuable area. The zoning plan includes rules for this. If archaeological values are found, the structure may have to be founded in a different way. Include this in the local risk assessment.
4. Building near monument/building trap
Are you building next to a dilapidated building or one that is poorly founded. If so, take additional measures that reduce the risk of vibration damage occurring.
5. High-voltage pylons
Do you want to build near a high-voltage pylon?
There are rules about this in the Environment Plan. This is named as, "Clearance Zone - High Voltage Connection." In principle, no sensitive objects may be built there. Deviation can be made under Requirements with an environmental permit, for which advice must be obtained from the pipeline manager. This may further mean that additional construction measures must be taken.
6. Noise, facade soundproofing
The Environment Plan "Woonkernen Leudal 2017" includes rules for the noise load on the facade: "The noise load on the facade of noise-sensitive objects may not exceed the applicable preferential limit value or an established higher limit value in the case of (replacement) new construction."
We use the following procedure for this purpose:
- If the location falls within the 45-50 dB contour on the traffic environment map (VMK) (see remark below), the plan is considered to comply with the noise levels, there is no conflict with the zoning plan and the plan is considered to comply with the preferred limit value. With a standard facade construction, the 33dB indoor limit value is always met and no acoustic research or facade insulation report is required.
- If the VMK indicates that the location lies within a contour with a higher value than 50 dB, this does not fit the zoning plan and a permit cannot be granted without additional research. The applicant must then submit a noise report showing the actual facade load. Based on this, there are two possible options for cooperation:
- If the facade load is less than or equal to 48 dB, it shows compliance with the zoning plan. No exemption decision is required.
- If the facade load is higher than 48 dB (but max. 63 dB inside built-up areas and max. 53 dB outside built-up areas), then a higher value decree and a deviation from the zoning plan ('minor case deviation', Article 4 paragraph 9, Appendix II Bor) can be applied.
Simultaneously with an application for an environmental permit, an application for a higher value must also be submitted, accompanied by an acoustic study of road traffic noise. The advantage of this is that the decision on the higher value does not have to be made available for inspection for six weeks, but runs simultaneously with the regular procedure for the application for the environmental permit (this is stated in Article 110c of the Noise Abatement Act).
Depending on the results of the acoustic investigation into road traffic noise, an additional acoustic façade insulation report may be requested. The measures from this report must be incorporated into the requested drawings and documents in the application for an environmental permit.
The application cannot be granted a permit until a decision has been made on the 'higher value'. This can take place simultaneously with the environmental permit decision, but may also take place earlier. The environmental permit decision will refer to the higher value decision.
Want to know what is on the traffic environment map to get an indication of road traffic noise? Then contact our Environment front office.
See the application form at the bottom of this page.
7. Firewater facilities
For ground-level dwellings, a fire water supply may be placed at a distance of 100 m. This is in contrast to the building code rule that demands a maximum distance of 40 m.
You can read more about this in the Regional Model Policy on Firewater and Accessibility of the Limburg North Safety Region.
Regional Model Policy on Firewater and Accessibility of the Limburg North Safety Region.
Publication date specific local conditions dated May 19, 2022 and updated on references due to Omgevingswet dated 1-1-2024
During construction
During construction, the quality assurance engineer will monitor the construction work.
Your contractor must keep records during construction that record exactly what he is building and demonstrate compliance with the rules and the assurance plan.
The quality assurance contractor and the contractor must ensure that any defects are corrected during construction.
Report ready
Click below to report the completion of your building plan
Once your building plan is complete and meets all the rules, the quality assurance contractor will prepare a statement.
You must send this declaration together with the contractor's file (including drawings and calculations of the structure, use functions, materials used, manuals and maintenance guidelines for installations/equipment, etc.) to the municipality via the DSO as a notification of completion. After 2 weeks, you may start using your structure.
What does it cost?
The construction notification is free. However, you do pay fees for the permit environmental plan activity. See the fees page for omgevingswet.
Want to know more?
The Building Notification and Completion Notification for Technical Building Activity | Information Point Living Environment (iplo.nl) page has even more information on building with a quality assurance contractor and the completion notification.