Union Professionnelle d'Architectes
Beroepsunie Van Architecten

State of the art rules and signs of quality in the construction industry

This evening, which once again brought together many architects and construction professionals (surveyors, lawyers, etc.), enabled them to learn about these tools, which are too often misunderstood, through a series of presentations.

It revolved around a recent work published by the Editions juridiques LARCIER (in the "Construction Law" collection): the Practical Guide to the rules of the trade: Constraints and signs of quality in construction written by M. PROCES, O. HAENECOUR and T. LOTH.

• Architect Michel PROCES (Professor UCL LOCI, President of the 'Architects' TC of the BBRI) presented the essential lines of this work which offers a structured synthesis of the entire vast field of prescriptions and of the certification and qualification systems used and encountered in Belgium.
• Me Olivier HAENECOUR (President of the Bar Council of the Bar of Mons) returned to the definition of the rules of art which are unavoidable even if they are devoid of a real legal definition and are part of the 'voluntary' domain.
• Me Thierry LOTH (Lawyer in Mons) looked at two points addressed in the guide, the first being the important question of temporality (i.e. "which references are supposed to be applicable in a given project") and the second the delicate question of tolerances.
• The architect and expert Cédric BOURGOIS (member of the CEAB Board of Directors) briefly addressed the control of entrepreneurial capacities, (formerly "access to the profession" of contractors) by referring to the new Guide to help control entrepreneurial skills drawn up as part of the information that the College of Expert Architects of Belgium (CEAB) distributed to its members and to architects

As in previous "UPA Wednesdays", participants were then able to ask questions of the speakers and share their views on the issues over drinks.

The texts of the evening's presentations are available (via a code) to participants and UPA-BUA members under the "Resources" section.