The impact of demographical, geographical and climatological factors on building defects in Belgium

Purpose: Quality failures in the design and construction process can entail significant delays and costs. Databases of building defects have proven to be useful for drawing conclusions on underlying causes of building defects and for identifying potential improvement actions to reduce the occurrence of building defects. Design/methodology/approach: The database comprising 27,074 cases from a Belgian insurance company was studied, and it was found that moisture problems account for 48% of all building defects, and stability problems 23%. To better analyse the geographical variability, the data were enriched with demographical, geographical and climatological factors of the municipality the concerned buildings were located in. This combined information was used to determine underlying external factors that impact the probability that specific types of building defects occur. Findings: The analysis of the data shows that external factors do indeed have a statistically significant impact. The factor with the highest impact is the number of walls the building has in common with its neighbours. The most significant climatological factor is the wind speed. Originality/value: A better understanding of the frequency of building defects and factors that contribute to the likelihood are important variables to consider in quality control and prevention.