Representatives of the construction industry ask questions On 5^th of October 2017 was held the presentation on the implementation of Eurocodes in Kazakhstan at the Atameken site. The organization of the event was initiated by the leadership of the National Chamber and supported by the authorized body. The meeting was attended by Roman Sklyar, Deputy Minister for Investment and Development of MID RK, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, KazNIISA, RSE "State Expertise", higher and secondary educational institutions, including science ones, and most importantly, those who were directly involved in the construction process-architects, designers, engineers, experts, etc. Representatives of 14 regions of Kazakhstan and the cities of Astana and Almaty participated in it as well via videoconference mode.

Deputy Chairman of the Board of NCE RK "Atameken" Eldos Ramazanov said that the subject of the meeting interested about 200 business entities and this is only the beginning.

"Atameken's task today is to connect the construction business community as much as possible to the process of implementing the Eurocodes so that it would not be a surprise for anyone by 2020, that's why active information work has already started", - explained Eldos Ramazanov.

After that the vice-minister for investments and development of RK Roman Sklyar delivered a speech.

"In the implementation of the Eurocodes, we focus on international experience, but we do not forget ours. The move to Eurocodes does not mean that it will complicate the life of the construction sector, on the contrary it will provide additional opportunities. There is a need to come to common standards and improve. We have our own peculiarities that are reflected in national applications", - Roman Sklyar emphasized.

The presentation in the theoretical aspect was presented by Mirken Abakanov, Advisor to the General Director of JSC KazNIISA. The speaker voiced the foundations: what are the Eurocodes, in which countries they are applied, the advantages and features, etc.

"Eurocodes cover all the basic building materials (concrete, steel, wood, stone / brick, aluminum), practically all the areas of design of structures (the basis of design of structures, all kinds of loads, the impact of fire, geotechnics, seismic resistance), a wide range of types of structures (buildings, bridges, towers and masts, silos, etc.) and extend to the design of all types of buildings and structures in all branches of the national economy. When designing highly responsible construction projects (nuclear power plants, hydraulic structures) ", - Mirken Abakanov emphasized.

Since 2010 Kazakhstan has started systematic work on the transition to Eurocodes in construction.

The reform affects the system of technical regulation of the construction industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan, covering all its components - regulatory and technical and legal frameworks, control and supervision systems, conformity assessment and pricing. On the main business issues about how the Eurocodes will be applied in practice, how much more expensive is the construction of the 1 sq. meter, as well as the analysis of comparative standards and calculations, was presented by the deputy general director of JSC KazNIISA Eraly Shokparova.

The goal is the transition from a rigid prescriptive method to a flexible parametric method of rationing. Until the end of this year, Soviet SNiPs (186 units), developed before 1992 on general construction issues, will be abolished. The remaining SNiPs of Kazakhstan (developed in the period 1992-2010) (70 units) are planned to be canceled by the end of 2019 after the implementation of the necessary measures for the transition to the Eurocodes.

Are government agencies ready to conduct accreditation of laboratories by European standards, this question was asked at the site of RCE of Almaty.

"Our bodies have an international form of accreditation, given that the Eurocodes covers a large scope. It is difficult to answer now, but in fact the work has begun and in six months Kazakhstan will be able to accredit fully ", - commented the general director of JSC KazNIISA Begman Kulbayev. 

Further, the question arose about the organization of retraining.

"Can we find Eurocodes in the public domain on the Internet? Will there be a single translation into the state and Russian languages. Regarding the retraining of staff - how much is it realistic? "- asked the businessman from Taraz, a representative of the company LLP "SanTechTeplo-Service".

"It is possible to buy and get acquainted with regulatory documents on the site of the subordinated structure of the Committee on Technical Regulation. As for the second question, Eurocodes have been introduced since July in 2015 and these norms co-existed in parallel. Training is necessary to pass in JSC "KAZNISSA", - explained Mirken Abakanov.

Eldos Ramazanov also noted that it is necessary to go ahead in this matter.

"We need to think ahead of time, namely - to train, retrain the design specialists. I note that the training does not end only with the designers, then builders, representatives of technical supervision and engineering companies should be trained", - said the Deputy Chairman of the Board.

As a result of the meeting, a plan of measures was signed between NCE and MID RK for wide coverage and information of the representatives of the construction industry on the introduction of Eurocodes.

"As there are a lot of questions, Atameken will continue to inform the business community in this direction. The National Council is ready to collect and work jointly with the authorized body and JSC KazNIISA to answers to all interesting questions on the introduction of the Eurocodes", - Eldos Ramazanov summarized.

For reference:

According to the information of higher educational institutions for construction, and there are 40 of them in the country, for the current academic year (2017-2018) the main or elective course on design in connection with the transition to Eurocodes is not laid in the curriculum. At the same time, for example, the Karaganda State Industrial University assumes the inclusion of the corresponding discipline in 2018, similarly the Kokshetau State University named after Sh. Ualikhanov. In South Kazakhstan State University named after M. Auezov - 2 years of lectures are given only at the master's level. The rest are not informed about the essence of the Eurocodes, or did not work at all in this direction.