Amended building code to facilitate housing construction

An amendment to the building code is intended to simplify the urgently needed construction of new and affordable housing in Berlin.

The draft amendment of the responsible Senate Department includes, among other things, less stringent rules for the building material for buildings in wood construction, as the Senate announced on Tuesday. The regulations for roof extensions and for adding storeys to existing buildings are to be simplified as well. For solar plants, the draft provides for smaller distances to fire walls.

Installation of cold water meters by 2030

However, new requirements are also being added: for example, it will become mandatory to green roofs with a maximum slope of ten degrees, "unless this is opposed by another use on the roofs," the draft said. The bill also mandates the installation of cold water meters in existing homes by 2030. Here, too, there is a restriction on the rule: where the installation of a meter "can only be fulfilled with a relatively high additional effort," the obligation does not apply.