Kazakhstan has completely switched to the use of European standards for the design of buildings since last year, which means that now all construction sites in the country should be designed in accordance with the European advanced codes. Experts said that with the introduction of the new standards, over 500 building regulations in the country were canceled, while requirements to design organizations became stricter. Overall, the new rules will allow applying innovative building materials and technologies as well as increase seismic resistance, and hence the safety of buildings. Today the Eurocodes are widely used in more than 45 countries. The switching to these codes will make Kazakh design organizations and construction companies enter the foreign markets and become more competitive. It will result in increase of the investment attractiveness of the construction sector, integration into the European system and compliance with international standards of technical regulation of the construction industry. The operator responsible for Kazakhstan’s switching to the Eurocodes is Kazakh Scientific and Research Institute of Construction and Architecture.
“In Kazakhstan, any design organization, European, French, Italian or German, will use our local peculiarities during the designing, for example, wind loads, snow, seismic features. With the introduction of the European basic standards, not only Kazakhstan’s experience, but the world experience is taken into account as well. Know-how and new achievements are introduced in the regulatory framework. It is related not only in terms of seismic resistance construction, but in terms of new materials, reinforced concrete, metal, biotechnical design,” said Yeraly Shokbarov, managing director for production, Kazakh Scientific and Research Institute of Construction and Architecture.
