Building or expanding in Guatemala: the safety challenges imposed by NRD-2

Disaster Reduction Standard Number Two (NRD-2) aims to establish the minimum safety requirements that must be observed in buildings or facilities for public use, in order to protect people in the event of natural or man-made events that could put their physical integrity at risk.

These standards constitute the set of measures and actions that must be implemented in buildings and facilities for public use. Public use is considered to be buildings that currently and in the future, regardless of the owner of the property rights, allow access with or without restrictions to personnel (employees, contractors, and subcontractors) and/or users in general (customers, consumers, beneficiaries, buyers, interested parties, among others).

In many buildings constructed prior to the entry into force of these regulations, there are significant challenges to complying with them. This becomes a real challenge if the owner’s plans include an extension that connects to the old part of the building, as the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (hereinafter CONRED) evaluates the entire project, and this practice is correct, since it is the same project and people can move from one area to another.

We are clear that the legal right being protected is life, and this is the most important thing for everyone, but from the point of view of real estate development, if you are going to build an extension to a building constructed before the NRD-2 came into force, you must take into account that the old building will also have to be adapted to comply with the guidelines of this Regulation; Otherwise, I invite you to plan your project as something operationally independent from the previous phase.

One of the most complex requirements to comply with, in our experience, is the distance to emergency exits, since the standard establishes that, if the building is not equipped with fire sprinklers, the maximum distance to the emergency exit is 45 meters; and, if it does have emergency sprinklers, that distance increases to 60 meters.

This is important because, according to section 9 of NRD-2, an emergency exit is "a continuous and unobstructed means of emergency exit to a public thoroughfare, and includes all necessary elements such as: hallways, passageways, exit alleys, doors, doorways, gates, corridors, exterior balconies, ramps, stairs, steps, smoke-proof enclosures, horizontal exits, emergency exit courtyards, and gardens." This article also defines a public emergency route as "any street, alley, or similar piece of land without obstructions from the ground to the sky, which is permanently available for public use and has a clear width of at least three (3) meters." This is extremely relevant because, in many cases, we have encountered misinterpretations and misguided criteria, in which it is considered that the emergency exit (45 or 60 meters, as applicable) is up to the public thoroughfare, when in fact the standard refers to the distance to the emergency exit.

The above is just one example of why it is necessary to be extremely careful in the design of the project so that it complies with the regulations. It is also an invitation to seek advice from experts in the field so that your file has as few corrections as possible and, above all, so that your designers can defend them.

Let us remember that the principle of legality allows public officials to execute only and exclusively what the law expressly empowers them to do.

Mario Andrés Rodríguez
arodriguez@alegalis.com

alegalis.com