DESIGN: DEAR MR PLUMBER
25
By-laws aren’t compulsory
laws: Part 1
By Vollie Brink, Pr Eng
Before 1977 there were no common national building
regulations in this country. Every city and town with a
municipality had its own chief building inspector with building
inspectors and their own home-grown regulations.
This is a topic that has become important, as by-laws
are being ‘used’ as if they are compulsory regulations
and for this reason, I am devoting this and the next
Dear Mr Plumber to it.
Prior to 1977 there were building inspectors for the buildings
and building inspectors for the drainage. These building
inspectors and even the chief building inspectors were mostly
from the trades as artisans – though in the bigger towns or
cities they were architects or engineers.
All government buildings were excluded from these local
building regulations and rather fell under the jurisdiction of
the various government departments. At that time, there were
many weird regulations, and most were not really applied
though they were on the books: one rural town’s building
regulations included that you were not allowed to crack a
whip in the main street – and this main street was actually the
highway passing through the town.
These fragmented local building regulations made it extremely
difficult for the architect or engineer to design a project for
different parts of the country, because you first had to study the
particular building regulations of the city or town and then you
might find that the interpretation varied from inspector
to inspector.
Every government department had its own regulations, and
an application and its interpretation might depend on the
particular inspector and even in many cases the ‘mood’ of
the official. There was in most cases nothing on paper. In one
case, a department had everything in terms of their water
requirements on one big drawing which was basically the only
information available in the industry. Perhaps this is why we
still don’t have water regulations in SANS10400.
Then in 1977 the promulgation of National Building Regulations
was a wonderful step forward to finally have ‘national’
regulations applicable to all buildings in all cities and towns
– and was even supposed to be applicable to government
departments. For the first time an architect or engineer could
study the regulations and apply it on all projects all over the
country and if there was any disagreement on the interpretation
it could be taken to a Review Board for clarification.
However, this was also problematic as it could take years for a
January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11
case to be put before the Review Board, and the construction
of a building cannot be stopped to await its outcome. This is
just not affordable.
However, local authorities are allowed to make their own by-
laws to suit their particular local conditions. The problem is that
it is used to enforce what the local officials want, and to make
rules to suit them.
My understanding is that local by-laws are ‘trumped’ by any
other law and regulation and cannot be used as a tool to
enforce their own devised regulations. These local by-laws
are extremely diverse and differ from city to city and town to
town. In many cases they do not make technical sense but are
enforced as compulsory and “thou shall do as I say”.
Vollie Brink is one of the
industry’s longest-serving
wet services engineers.
He continues to serve on
SABS committees and
has been involved in the
Green Building Council’s
Green Star rating system.
Brink continues to consult
for various organisations
while enjoying a well-
earned retirement.
The problem is that the official does not take responsibility for
his/her decision, as the ultimate responsible legal person is the
owner. All this is not in the spirit of democratic management or
in the interest of development. It is inconsistent as it changes
from official to official and there is no reasoning even if the
official or officials are proven to be inconsistent and allow one
thing in one place and another in another situation or even if
they are proven to be technically wrong.
Read the next series on ‘by-laws aren’t compulsory laws’ in the
February issue of Plumbing Africa. PA
“All government buildings were excluded
from these local building regulations and
rather fell under the jurisdiction of the
various government departments."
www.plumbingafrica.co.za