How do I meet the developer's responsibilities under the Planning and Building Act (2010:900) (PBL)?
Under the PBL, the developer is strictly responsible for ensuring that any construction, demolition or land improvement work is carried out in accordance with the law or the regulations issued under the law. This means, among other things, that a building must be fit for its purpose and have the right technical characteristics, for example in terms of hygiene, health and environmental protection.
At the technical consultation prior to the start of construction, the developer must describe in his inspection plan how the technical property requirements will be checked and documented. This must then be reported so that the final notice can be issued and the building can thus be put into use.
In terms of health protection, indoor reference levels for radon are set at 200 becquerels per cubic meter of air and for gamma radiation from building materials at 1 millisievert annual effective dose. This mainly concerns construction products and building materials that include concrete with aggregates.
According to Boverket, the properties of construction products can be assessed in different ways. The products can be:
- CE marked
- type-approved
- certified
- made by a certified factory
For construction products with assessed characteristics, the developer does not need to perform his own testing of these characteristics.
When it comes to hazardous substances (ionizing radiation, radon and gamma radiation), the characteristics of a construction product cannot be assessed by CE marking, type approval or manufactured by a certified factory. However, there is no harmonized standard for such assessment, which means that there is no basis for declarations of performance and that any such declarations are not valid. The only way for the developer to demonstrate the suitability of the chosen construction products and materials that include concrete with aggregates is to have them certified by an accredited certification body.
Mark- och Miljökontroll i Särö AB (MMK) is currently the country’s only accredited certification body for hazardous substances (ionizing radiation, radon and gamma radiation) in building products and for inspection of building products and building materials in finished buildings.
We are happy to provide further information on this issue. If interested, please contact us.
MMK is:
- Expert consultant for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- Expert consultant for the Swedish Standards Institute (SIS)
- Referral to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM)
- Referral company to Boverket