Digitalisering in de BouwDutch statutes, deadlines and figures, every sentence sourcedTab 01 · Dutch law and public data
The check on the building site, the file the contractor hands over, the notices to the municipality and the government’s open standards. Dutch law and public data in one place, with a source for every sentence and the date we checked it.
A number in square brackets leads to its source at the foot of the page. This is not legal advice: the rules change, which is why every source carries the date it was read.
The dates that mark the digitalisation of building in the Netherlands.
IFC is placed on the list of open standards Dutch governments must apply.[1]Source 1: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, datum van besluit
The Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) applies: one law and one digital counter for information and applications.[2]Source 2: Rijksoverheid, De Omgevingswet
The quality assurance rules begin to apply to new buildings in consequence class 1.[3]Source 3: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering
Construction contracts concluded from this date fall under the duty to hand over a consumer file.[4]Source 4: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb, overgangsrecht
Who checks building work since the Quality Assurance Act, for which buildings, and what is still to come.
Under the Quality Assurance for Building Act (Wkb), the check of the building plans in advance is replaced by a check in practice: on the building site itself, during the build, by independent quality assurers (kwaliteitsborgers).[5]Source 5: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), doel van de Wkb
The quality assurance rules have applied since 1 January 2024 to new buildings in consequence class 1, the lowest risk class, which covers for example single-family houses and smaller commercial buildings.[3]Source 3: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering
Those rules apply only to new build, permanent or temporary, and not to renovation.[6]Source 6: IPLO, Bouwwerken in gevolgklasse 1
For renovations the Wkb is postponed for now, and has no final start date yet.[7]Source 7: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering
A full evaluation of the Wkb is planned for 2027.[8]Source 8: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering
Depending on its outcome, the buildings in the higher risk classes follow after it.[9]Source 9: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), hogere risicoklassen
Under the Wkb, the builder’s liability for building errors grows.[10]Source 10: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), doel van de Wkb
What the contractor must hand over at delivery, and what it remains liable for after delivery.
After a build, the contractor must give the client information about what was built, whether that client is professional or private.[11]Source 11: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb
The file is due when the contractor tells the client the work is ready for delivery. The municipality and the kwaliteitsborger are not involved in it.[12]Source 12: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb
Under article 7:757a of the Dutch Civil Code, the file contains at least the drawings and calculations of the building and its installations, a description of the materials and installations used, the use functions, and the data and documents needed to use and maintain the building.[13]Source 13: Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 7:757a
Client and contractor may agree something different about the consumer file.[14]Source 14: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb, afspraken
The duty does not apply to construction contracts concluded before 1 January 2024.[4]Source 4: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb, overgangsrecht
For a building, the contractor is liable for defects not discovered at delivery, unless they cannot be attributed to it (article 7:758(4) of the Civil Code).[15]Source 15: Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 7:758 lid 4
What goes to the competent authority before and after the build, and by which route.
At least four weeks before building starts, and no earlier than a year, a building notice (bouwmelding) goes to the competent authority.[16]Source 16: IPLO, Bouwmelding en gereedmelding bij de technische bouwactiviteit, bouwmelding
The building notice names, among other things, the kwaliteitsborger and the instrument it works with, and carries a risk assessment and an assurance plan.[17]Source 17: IPLO, Bouwmelding en gereedmelding bij de technische bouwactiviteit, inhoud bouwmelding
During the build, the kwaliteitsborger carries out the assurance plan and supervises the building plan.[18]Source 18: IPLO, Bouwmelding en gereedmelding bij de technische bouwactiviteit, kwaliteitsborger
At least two weeks before the building is taken into use, a completion notice (gereedmelding) goes to the competent authority.[19]Source 19: IPLO, Bouwmelding en gereedmelding bij de technische bouwactiviteit, gereedmelding
The completion notice carries the kwaliteitsborger’s statement, and its technical parts together form the dossier bevoegd gezag.[20]Source 20: IPLO, Bouwmelding en gereedmelding bij de technische bouwactiviteit, inhoud gereedmelding
A digital application or notice under the Omgevingswet must go through the national facility, such as the Omgevingsloket, and not by e-mail. Filing on paper is still allowed.[21]Source 21: IPLO, Wanneer indienen via het Omgevingsloket verplicht is
Since 1 January 2024 the rules sit together in the Omgevingswet: one law, one digital counter for information and applications.[2]Source 2: Rijksoverheid, De Omgevingswet
The Digitaal Stelsel Omgevingswet consists of the governments’ local systems and the national facility, which includes the Omgevingsloket.[22]Source 22: IPLO, Digitaal Stelsel Omgevingswet (DSO)
How construction fares in the statistics of digitalisation: against construction across the EU, and against the Dutch economy as a whole.
| Construction, Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| Construction, EU | |
| All enterprises, Netherlands | |
| All enterprises, EU |
All enterprises in Eurostat’s sense: without the financial sector, agriculture and mining. Here, lower is better.
| Construction, Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| All enterprises, Netherlands |
All enterprises in the CBS sense: the total of sections C to N and Q.
| Construction, Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| All enterprises, Netherlands |
All enterprises in the CBS sense: the total of sections C to N and Q.
| Construction, Netherlands | |
|---|---|
| All enterprises, Netherlands |
All enterprises in the CBS sense: the total of sections C to N and Q.
So Dutch construction is ahead of construction across the EU, and behind the Dutch economy as a whole.[23]Source 23: Eurostat, isoc_e_diin2, construction (F), 2024[24]Source 24: Eurostat, isoc_e_diin2, all enterprises, 2024
The 2025 CBS figures are provisional.[28]Source 28: CBS, ICT-gebruik bij bedrijven; bedrijfstak, 2025 (86120NED), tabeltoelichting
How the European Commission’s construction sector observatory understands it, and which technologies it covers.
The European Construction Sector Observatory understands the digitalisation of construction as more than BIM alone: it also covers data acquisition, the automation of processes, and digital information and analysis.[29]Source 29: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §1.1
The observatory’s 2021 report studies twelve digital technologies.[30]Source 30: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §1.2
The same report counts construction among the least digitalised sectors of the economy.[31]Source 31: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §1.1
How mature each technology is, according to the observatory’s 2021 report.
Sensors have the highest level of market maturity and technological readiness.[43]Source 43: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary
3D scanning is increasingly used. The Internet of Things is not yet widely adopted, although it is developing rapidly.[44]Source 44: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary
Drones are increasingly used, while robots and 3D printing are still at the development phase and used only for very specific, limited tasks.[45]Source 45: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary
Digital twins are for the moment limited to a few pilot projects.[46]Source 46: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary
Virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence are still at development stages and not yet market ready.[47]Source 47: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary
What the Dutch government prescribes for exchanging building information models, and how the EU observatory reads the Dutch approach.
The 2014 EU public procurement directive lets Member States require specific electronic tools, such as BIM tools, for public works contracts and design contests.[48]Source 48: Directive 2014/24/EU, art. 22(4)
IFC is a mandatory standard on the Dutch apply-or-explain list: it must be applied as the file format for communicating about and coordinating building information models.[49]Source 49: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, lijststatus en toepassingsgebied
That obligation binds Dutch governments (the state, provinces, municipalities and water boards) and institutions of the (semi-)public sector.[50]Source 50: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, werkingsgebied
The decision to place IFC on the list dates from 15 November 2011.[1]Source 1: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, datum van besluit
The Rijksvastgoedbedrijf, the central government real estate agency, prescribes IFC through its own BIM norm.[51]Source 51: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, adoptieadvies
The EU observatory names Austria and the Netherlands as the only two Member States with an open BIM standard mandate (2021).[52]Source 52: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §2.2.3.1
It counts the Netherlands among the countries with partial BIM requirements, often set by particular public authorities.[53]Source 53: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §3.2.2
It describes the Dutch approach as market-oriented, without a digitalisation strategy of its own for construction.[54]Source 54: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §3.2.1
Public authorities such as the Rijksvastgoedbedrijf, according to the observatory, put a BIM specification into their tenders.[55]Source 55: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §3.2.1
In its survey, which it calls incomplete, the Netherlands is among the countries with the strongest adoption of sensors.[56]Source 56: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §2.2.1.1
First experiments with GeoBIM in building permits began in the Netherlands, for example in Rotterdam.[57]Source 57: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, §3.2.4
What, according to research, drives the digitalisation of construction, and what holds it back.
The World Economic Forum wrote in 2016 that engineering and construction had been hesitant to embrace new technology, and that its labour productivity had stagnated accordingly.[58]Source 58: World Economic Forum, Shaping the Future of Construction, 2016
The same report estimated that a 1% rise in construction productivity worldwide could save 100 billion dollars a year.[59]Source 59: World Economic Forum, Shaping the Future of Construction, 2016, introduction
The observatory names the need to improve productivity and cut costs, and market demand, as the main drivers.[60]Source 60: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary (drivers)
It names the cost of equipment and software, the lack of a skilled workforce, and the lack of awareness of digital technologies as the three main barriers.[61]Source 61: European Construction Sector Observatory, Digitalisation in the construction sector, 2021, executive summary (challenges)
The Dutch terms the law, the government and its information point use.
No. Since 1 January 2024 the quality assurance rules apply to new build in consequence class 1, not to renovation. For renovations the start is postponed with no final date, and an evaluation is planned for 2027.[3]Source 3: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering[6]Source 6: IPLO, Bouwwerken in gevolgklasse 1[7]Source 7: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering[8]Source 8: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), gefaseerde invoering
At least the drawings and calculations of the building and its installations, a description of the materials and installations used, the use functions, and what is needed to use and maintain it. Client and contractor may agree otherwise.[13]Source 13: Burgerlijk Wetboek Boek 7, art. 7:757a[14]Source 14: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb, afspraken
No, paper is allowed too. A digital filing must go through the national facility, such as the Omgevingsloket, and not by e-mail.[21]Source 21: IPLO, Wanneer indienen via het Omgevingsloket verplicht is
IFC is a mandatory standard on the apply-or-explain list: it must be applied as the file format for communicating about and coordinating building information models. That binds Dutch governments and institutions of the (semi-)public sector.[49]Source 49: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, lijststatus en toepassingsgebied[50]Source 50: Forum Standaardisatie, IFC, werkingsgebied
No. The kwaliteitsborger is an independent party, a digital notice goes through the national facility, and the consumer file is the contractor’s duty. EMALINO, the publisher of this page, is none of these.[5]Source 5: IPLO, Wet kwaliteitsborging voor het bouwen (Wkb), doel van de Wkb[11]Source 11: IPLO, Consumentendossier (opleverdossier) en Wkb[21]Source 21: IPLO, Wanneer indienen via het Omgevingsloket verplicht is
This page is published by EMALINO. The Omgevingsloket and the DSO are government facilities, the kwaliteitsborger is an independent party and the consumer file is the contractor’s duty: EMALINO is none of them and replaces none of them.
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