Georgian building regulations for ventilated facades

There is no single facade standard

Unlike some neighbouring countries, Georgia has not adopted a dedicated national code for ventilated facades. The Code of Georgia on Spatial Planning, Architectural and Construction Activities (No. 3213, 20 July 2018) sets the general framework: Article 78 says that the basic requirements for buildings are established by the Code, technical regulations and standards, and that Eurocodes and other international norms are taken into account when the Government prepares regulations. The requirements for a facade therefore have to be assembled from several documents.

The documents that matter for a facade

Seismic zones of the main cities

The seismic regulation lists the design intensity for each settlement on the MSK-64 scale together with a coefficient A used in the calculation. For the cities where most facades are built today the values are:

The regulation asks for these values to be refined by microzoning where it is available. For a facade the key provision is the one on non-structural elements: parapets, cornices, enclosures and similar parts whose collapse could cause casualties are checked for the design seismic action together with their supports.

Climate zones and U-values

Resolution No. 354 divides Georgia into three climate zones, each with a reference city: zone 1 — Batumi (Kutaisi is also in this zone), zone 2 — Tbilisi, zone 3 — Tianeti. In the original text the maximum U-value for external walls is 0.50, 0.38 and 0.25 W/m²K respectively. The resolution has since been amended, so the numbers must be checked against the consolidated text when a project is submitted.

Fire rules for exterior walls

The Building Safety Rules apply to buildings of classes III, IV and V and follow the structure of the International Building Code. For facades the most relevant parts are Article 705 (exterior walls: fire separation distances, openings, projections) and Chapter 14 (exterior walls), including:

• NFPA 285 testing for buildings above 12 m where the wall assembly contains a combustible water-resistive barrier;
• requirements for metal composite materials (aluminium composite panels): flame spread and smoke indices to ASTM E84 / UL 723, a thermal barrier and full-scale testing;
• provisions for exterior insulation and finish systems and for high-pressure decorative laminate cladding.

European reaction-to-fire classes under EN 13501-1 are not the main route in this regulation, although it allows other standards equivalent to those referenced. For each product we check which tests it actually has and how they relate to the requirements.

Eurocodes in Georgia

Georgia has been preparing the transition to Eurocodes for more than a decade, with support from the European Commission's Joint Research Centre. Registration of Eurocodes as Georgian standards has started, but they are not mandatory yet, and EN 1991 has no Georgian national annex. In practice Eurocodes — EN 1999 for aluminium structures, EN 1993 for steel, EN 1992-4 for anchors in concrete — are used as recognised international norms, and the assumptions are agreed with the expert in advance.

Products: ETA and declaration of performance

The construction products regulation (Resolution No. 476 of 2018) introduces the declaration of performance and marking of construction products, and its definitions include the European Technical Assessment. For subframes and anchors we therefore work with products that hold an ETA issued under the relevant European Assessment Document; the EAD and ETAG documents published by EOTA are the European technical basis for these products.

Permits, building classes and expert review

The Code divides buildings into five classes, from I (minimal risk) to V (increased technical risk). Under Resolution No. 255, facing and repair work on a facade without a significant change of its dimensions or appearance does not require a construction permit (except for cultural heritage). Expert review is mandatory for the structural design from class II and for the detailed architectural design for classes III and IV. The architectural design is signed by an architect and the structural design by a design engineer.

Official texts

All Georgian acts listed here are published on matsne.gov.ge. English versions exist for some of them (the Code and the Law on Energy Efficiency); the others are available in Georgian. European and American standards (EN, NFPA, ASTM) are not free and are referenced by name only.

• Code of Georgia on Spatial Planning, Architectural and Construction Activities (English)
• Government Resolution No. 71 — construction technical regulations, including seismic and climatology
• Government Resolution No. 41 — Building Safety Rules
• Law on Energy Efficiency of Buildings (English)
• Government Resolution No. 354 — minimum energy performance requirements
• Government Resolution No. 476 — construction products
• Government Resolution No. 255 — construction permits