The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning have been conducting housing needs assessments since 1995 (Boverket 2015). The latest assessment was conducted in 2015 and showed that 71,000 homes will need to be built annually by 2020. To be able to contribute to building more homes, Willhem AB is carrying out a project called ”Så bygger vi för alla”. As part of the work, this thesis will examine the building rules and how they can contribute to innovation. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which rules, laws and norms we have to keep to in Sweden regarding housing construction. The aim of the work is to investigate whether the regulatory framework can create creativity amongst the players in the market.
This thesis is limited to examining which laws, government policies and eventual municipal requirements that exist in Sweden. Therefore, industry rules, such as the AMA, and contracting regulations, such as AB and ABT, will not be taken into consideration. The survey is also limited to newly built multifamily houses only. Finally, the reference objects that are studied in the thesis will be in Sweden and be limited to being either construction-technical or plan-based innovative and have been recently executed.
This thesis is based on the existing regulations and theories from previous studies. The data collected for this survey will be studied from a qualitative point of view. The survey aims to investigate a number of reference objects more thoroughly and conduct interviews with key people involved in the project, which means a qualitative approach is best suited.
In 1987, Sweden received a new building legislation according to Örnhall (2017), which has resulted in a transition from specification requirements to functional requirements in order to increase the liberty in housing production. However, according to Örnhall (2017 the new legislation has contributed to a wider picture of the regulatory framework. The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning is the authority that has the overall responsibility for community planning, urban development, construction and housing (Nordstrand 2008). The most important laws and government policies that the social planning sector primarily have to obey are the Planning and Building Act (PBL), the Planning and Building Regulation (PBF) as well as and the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning (BBR) (Örnhall, Swedish Construction Service 2017a). The Planning and Building Act (SFS 2010:900), PBL, regulates the planning for land and water whilst the responsibility for maintaining the regulations lies with the municipalities. The purpose of PBL is to promote social development for long-term, equal, social and environmental sustainable development for today’s society and future generations (SFS 2010: 900). When creating new homes, special consideration should be given to long term use of the home (Boverket 2016).
At the interview stage, six areas emerged that were considered to be particularly problematic or interesting for the development of innovative and cheap housing. These areas were; accessibility, municipal requirements, rules, advice and interpretations, energy, innovation and development, and the ability to build for everyone. I perceived the accessibility aspect as very complex. Several interviewees argue that the accessibility requirements entail an increased cost for new builds, in one case it was even expressed that today’s availability requirements means the housing becomes less accessible to a larger group. The rules for creating an inclusive society also emerged at the interview stage while another recurring opinion is the renewal of the legislation.
Several interviewees stated that they consider the regulations to be outdated and need to be updated according to today’s society. Based on this, I found The National Board of Housing, Building and Planning requirements contradictory whilst providing support for innovation, many requirements inhibits the development of housing. Therefore, extensive research should be carried out on how people in Sweden want to live today; thereafter the regulations can be updated according to today’s needs.
In one way or another, all reference objects have been at the forefront when it comes to housing development. A common factor for the various reference objects is that a major problem was identified in all projects, which led to a product or solution being developed. They show that there is not one solution to the problem, but that different solutions can be found to achieve the same goal: better housing for more people.