Building ordinance

According to the Building Act, every municipality must have a building code, but its provisions may differ in different areas of the municipality (Building Act Section 17). The purpose of the building code is to promote planned and regionally appropriate construction, consideration of cultural and natural values, and the creation and preservation of a good living environment.

The provisions of the Building Regulations do not apply if a legally effective master plan, local plan or the Building Act provides otherwise (Section 17.4 of the Building Act).

In addition to the provisions and regulations contained in the Building Act (RakL) and the Land Use and Building Decree (MRA) and other provisions and regulations concerning land use and construction, the provisions of the Building Regulations must be complied with in the City of Riihimäki, unless otherwise provided for in the legally effective master plan, local plan or the provisions of the Finnish Building Regulations. In addition, the environmental protection regulations of the City of Riihimäki must be taken into account.

Revised sections of the building order

The partial reform of the Building Regulations was approved by the City Council on April 25, 2022 and entered into force on June 14, 2022. The following sections have been revised:

Section 1.2 Building control authority

The building control authority of the city of Riihimäki is the vitality board. The area of ​​responsibility for building supervision functions under it. The expert body for construction supervision is the inspection committee, which includes:

• building control manager
• planning manager
• a representative of the regional rescue service
• environmental director
• representative of environmental health control
• if necessary, other persons from the building control unit. The committee is chaired by the building control manager, who calls a meeting when necessary. The person designated by him or her in charge of the building control area acts as secretary. The review committee, if necessary and requested, provides its opinion on applications for building permits, measures, demolition and landscape work permits. The review committee may invite experts to the meeting.

Section 2. Permit systems

• Section 2 of the current building order will be updated to reflect the easements in the building permit systems enabled by the current Land Use and Building Act. The practices of the procedure permit and notification have been revised in connection with the update.

Section 5. Planning need area

• The municipality can indicate the area of ​​planning need in a legal master plan or building order. A planning need area is an area that, due to its location, is expected to have community development that requires planning, or that, due to special environmental values ​​or environmental disadvantages, needs to plan land use.
• The current building regulations designate the entire Riihimäki city area as a planning need area, excluding the planned area.
• Due to its central location, Riihimäki can expect community development requiring planning even outside the site plan area. In the direction of construction, it will continue to be necessary to take into account the conditions for resource-efficient community development in the entire municipality and maintain the starting points for a diverse regional structure based on good and safe connections. It is the basis for competitive and agile land use planning, which is of great importance to the attractiveness and vitality of the city.
• In addition, the planning needs assessment enables planned construction to be guided to ensure the preservation of special environmental values ​​also in sparsely populated areas and to prevent the effects of existing environmental harms.