The building code
Building regulations serve both to avert danger and to ensure regulated structural coexistence. It is subject to the sovereignty of the federal states and is regulated in the respective state building regulations. In Hesse, the Hessian Building Code (HBO) therefore applies.
The building code also contains organizational and procedural regulations that govern, for example, the responsibility of the building inspectorate or the building approval process.
Security, public safety and order
In particular, life and health must not be endangered by building structures. Building regulations law therefore contains, in particular, the legal requirements that must be complied with by those involved in the construction when erecting, modifying, changing the use of and demolishing buildings and other structures and facilities as well as the structural use of land. Building regulations requirements are supplementary to the requirements of planning law and can further influence the permissibility of projects.
Essential functions of building regulations law:
- Averting danger in the construction sector
- Ensuring minimum social standards
- Enforcement of urban land-use planning
- Prevention of disfigurement
- Compliance with other statutory provisions
In addition, building regulations also contain provisions for the implementation of social and ecological concerns.
The building regulations set out specific requirements that serve to protect against hazards, maintain minimum aesthetic and social standards and meet ecological and product-related quality standards. It regulates the buildability of properties, for example through the obligation to maintain distances from neighboring properties. It also specifies requirements regarding room heights, common rooms in basements or attics and fire protection requirements.
State building regulations - HBO
For every building project, the standard regulations of the state building regulations - in this case the Hessian Building Regulations (HBO) - should therefore be observed right from the planning stage: the development of the property with accesses and driveways, clearance areas and distances, fire protection requirements with regard to component requirements and escape routes with their openings as well as accessibility. This applies to all structures, facilities and building plots - regardless of whether they are subject to an approval procedure or not.
A building permit can be granted if the building project does not contradict the applicable provisions and stipulations of the urban land use planning.
The HBO also regulates the formal building regulations - for example, which projects in Hesse - and therefore in Wiesbaden - require approval, which are exempt from the procedure, only subject to notification or can be approved in a simplified approval procedure and which requirements must be met for approval to be granted.
You can find more information on the types of procedure and their respective processes at:
Further provisions on hazard prevention, (parking) spaces and co.
The HBO also contains the authorization basis for further provisions and ordinances regarding the requirements for structural installations. This concerns, for example, provisions on firing systems, heat generation and fuel supply (Firing Ordinance) as part of hazard prevention. However, regulations on garages and parking spaces (Garage Ordinance) and bicycle parking spaces (Bicycle Parking Ordinance), front gardens (Front Garden Ordinance) and technical installations (Technical Inspection Ordinance) are also laid down in the HBO.
However, deviations from these building code requirements are permitted if they are compatible with public interests, taking into account the purpose of the respective requirement and considering neighboring interests. This must be justified in each individual case.
The Hessian Administrative Regulation on Technical Building Regulations (H-VV TB) introduced a large number of mandatory technical building regulations.
The building regulations provide for two ways of enforcing public building law: Firstly, they prevent infringements of the law by linking the right to erect a building to the granting of a building permit. Secondly, they authorize the building inspectorate to intervene against violations of the law.