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Service life of buildings

Due to the frequent questions we receive regarding the material composition, safety, hygiene, strength, and rigidity, as well as the service life of the EUROPANEL building system and the structures built using it, we have decided to gradually address the full scope of these issues through a series of brief updates. In this first article, we will examine the concept of a building’s service life.

Lifespan can be viewed from various perspectives—moral, technical, economic, and design lifespan.

• Functional service life indicates how long a building can meet the changing requirements of its users regarding its functional properties. This includes the floor plan, plumbing, electrical systems, data networks, and the quality and design of wall and floor surfaces, among other things. A building’s functional properties must keep pace with society’s technical and social development and the evolving individual needs of its users over time. The culmination of this wear and tear is the repair or renovation of the building. (Today, it is common to carry out renovations approximately every 20 years.)

• Technical lifespan is related to the lifespan and functionality of individual structural elements. Due to degradation processes, a building loses its quality. It depends on proper maintenance and can be extended through building renovations.

• The economic life of a building ends when the costs of maintenance and operation exceed the benefits derived from its use. Every building is an investment that pays off for the investor through depreciation.

• A unified system for design life has been established across Europe, which you can find in the following table. Even during the design phase of a new building, we plan its functional, technical, and economic life decades in advance. Eurocode defines 5 categories of design life based on the intended use of buildings and their structural components.

* Structures or parts of structures that can be dismantled for reuse shall not be considered temporary.

The required service life of a structure is determined based on the ČSN EN 1990:2002 standard, Eurocode – Principles of Structural Design. The service life of structural components is based on individual design life classes, depending on how difficult it will be to repair or replace these components during the building’s service life.

EN 1990 – Principles of Design, Load-bearing Capacity, Serviceability, and Durability

sets out the basic requirements for load-bearing capacity, personal safety, serviceability, functional suitability, robustness, and quality assurance

EN 1991 – Loads on structures, permanent, variable, and accidental

Prerequisites for the application of Eurocodes

• The design and construction of the structure are carried out by qualified personnel

• Appropriate supervision is ensured during construction

• Building materials are used in accordance with the Eurocodes or relevant material standards

• The structure is properly maintained and used in accordance with the design

How can we determine whether a building system will meet the required design life values?

All structures must be designed in accordance with the principles outlined above. Likewise, all materials, equipment, and structural components used must meet the specified requirements.

We’ll discuss how this is handled in Europe in the next article.