Building Law

Building Law covers topics which are essential for understanding of the built environment. Every building project has certain needs:

(a) capacity. This means that the building initiator needs designs, engineering, building materials and labor. The building initiator will use the legal instrument of contracts to arrange this. In this context, rules for procurement are relevant. These rules require that sometimes competition between suppliers of goods and services is required.

(b) Land. This means that the building initiator has to buy or lease land on which the project is realised. Contracts, pre-emption right and expropriation may be used to get access to land.

(c) Permission. The building initiator needs permits and plan approvals before the work can commence. Permit procedures make sure that the building project is tested against relevant norms and criteria.

On top of this, the building initiator needs to make sure that conflicts are avoided as much as possible.

The fields that are taught in this course are: Building contract law, Procurement law, Property law, Planning law, Environmental law and Public private partnerships. It includes private law and public law, from the building level to the level of urban development.

Two assessment methods are employed that together determine the total weighted average grade of the course:

• Written theory exam [weight 70%]

• Law assignments [weight 30%]

Explanation:

The exam accounts for 70% of the final mark. The exam can be retaken in the following quarter (quarter 4). There is no minimum mark for the exam. The exam is open book, which means you can take books and printed or written documents with you to the exam. The examination will be held in an examination hall.

In addition, there are three assignments spread over the duration of the course, each of which accounts for 10% of the final mark. There is no minimum mark for each of the assignments. The assignments are made by a duo of students. They can be made at home.

There is no retake for an assignment. If you get a unsatisfactory mark for the first assignment, you can improve on the second assignment. And the same applies to the second assignment.

Since there is no minimum mark for the exam nor the assignments, you can compensate. Ultimately, you need grade 6 to pass the course.