Turkish Building Code

[elance300]

Hi,
I am starting a residential project in Turkey and am looking for the local building codes. Can anyone help me with finding them?
I'm working in California and needless to say they are very hard to track down online.
Thanks for your help!

 

[MiketheEngineer]

From what I have seen - nothing!! Most appear to be mud shacks with tin roofs. Every time they have an earthquake seems as if thousands die.

Should there be some codes - YES

 

[concretemasonry]

In Turkey (Istanbul), there is a wide range of construction and code enforcement. A very good friend (huge international construction company) and his engineers explained what I was seeing the first time I visited.

On multiple story residential construction, there is a concept referred to as "midnight construction" that commonly occurs on land that has disputed land ownership due to the laws and the amount of transfers and construction starts. Some contractors will start construction very quickly on a 24/7 basis and delay payments to subs and there is no inspection because of the clouded land ownership and not permits or authority since the construction can move faster than the municipal authorities. Ultimately, the situation is resolved because the land value is elevated by the construction. This is a rare local situation relating to 5 to 7 story residential buildings in a city that has a very long history (2000+ years) and numerous property transfers.

There are many great, qualified engineers in the major cities and the projects completed reflect the economic value and amount of construction value in a city of 12,000,000 to 18,000,000 in two continents.

If I were starting a residential project, I would request the owner to give you the name of the city and the specific legal location to verify ownership. In most of the smaller cities and towns, the pace of construction is slower except for some of the developing coastal cities. I attended several meetings of building officials and felt the local engineers were highly qualified. If this is smaller residential project, the risk and complications are minimal.

If you need someone on site, I would volunteer to go back to this gem of a country, education and technology.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[Guest262653]

Hi,

The 1998 version of the "Specification for Structures to be Built in Disaster Areas" is available at the following link (from MPI Engineering Project Construction Co. Ltd website. You can find it at scribd.com, or similar, but I don't know if it's legal or not):

http://www.mpi.com.tr/gb_teknik_yazilar.htm

Be aware that a new version of the code has been released in 2007 and some amendments have already been introduced. You might want to contact the Earthquake department of the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency of the Turkish Government for the newest version of the code. Try to get some contacts at the following link:

http://www.deprem.gov.tr/SarbisEng/Shared/Anasayfa.aspx

From what I've seen from just a quick look, as I've never used any Turkish regulation before since I live and work in the other side of Europe, it seems that these versions follow from a very close range the Eurocode 8 philosophy.

Hope it helped.

PS: Regarding the previous post: "mud shacks with tin roofs. Every time they have an earthquake seems as if thousands die", I have no further comments as "MiketheEngineer" seems to have presented himself in a most elegant way.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

And here in St. Louis we have many buildingws over 100 years old. Sadly, the same thing would probably happen if we ever or when we a decent earthquake.

It truly will be a disaster.

 

[elance300]

thanks avscorreia for the links.

i found a copy of the 2007 "specifications for buildings to be built in seismic zones" but for some reason all of the diagrams are missing

i shot an email to the ministry so hopefully they will be kind enough to send me their codes!

 

[concretemasonry]

elance -

You will need a good local contact before spending time on an unknown project. My contractor friend started to rebuild about 500 homes for employees after a recent seismic event and then the second event required the reconstruction because the reconstruction was too quick to start. - Back to page 1 for him.

Rely on the professionals in Turkey because they are well versed and educated.

There is difference in Turkey between private projects and the moral obligation of supporting employees. The same applies to some smaller private projects.

Mike - You are not far from the biggest shake in North America (New Madrid) that shook the church bells in Boston.

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[MiketheEngineer]

concretem -

YOU ARE CORRECT!!!

We had about 4.2 at about 2:30 am a few months ago. Woke me out of a dead sleep.

That is the most my bed has shaken in many years. Said that to my wife and I ended up with a black eye!!

 

[concretemasonry]

Turkey is directly on the a continental plate junction that separates Istanbul into being in both Europe and Asia with only 2 bridges connection the city of 12-18,000,000 in the metro area.

Imagine building a train tunnel under the Bosporus that separates the two continents. The Turkish engineers have the ability and technology to pull it off, based on the experience of building on top of generations of cities and the seismic history.

they are very technically competent and are familiar with most modern building codes and requirements and the transition to them. This is why a local contact is important.

Dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[Teguci]

I seem to remember the main problem in Turkey is a ground floor weak story type construction.

If they're hiring a CA engineer it sounds like they don't want the same clean up problem as the last quake event.