Urban Development authorities develop regulations of mandatory shelters in residential buildings
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YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The Committee of Urban Development of Armenia is developing standards for bomb (air raid) shelters which will be mandatory in new buildings.
The regulation will cover new buildings and those that are subject to reinforcement work.
The committee’s director for Construction and Scientific-Technical Standardization Ruzanna Adamyan told ARMENPRESS that they began developing the standards in June 2020. They will soon request funding from the government for the planning work.
“Mandatory regulations are defined especially for buildings that are yet to be constructed, where the architectural plan can’t be approved without having a [bomb] shelter. If you want to construct a building you must plan the kind of conditions in the basement floors which can quickly be transformed into shelters,” Adamyan said.
The planning organization will develop the norms where the shelters must be located.
Old buildings requiring reinforcement works will also include the creation of shelters. Speaking about Soviet-era buildings, Adamyan said that most of these buildings have basements which could be transformed into shelters through re-equipment. Adamyan said they must inventorize the entire housing stock to have a complete picture.
Reporting by Anna Gziryan; Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan