The new build homes in Bulgaria rise prices because of European norms

The more stringent European standards, which must come by the beginning of the next year, will raise the prices of construction.

According to Prof. Yonko Penev a new apartment hardly will go up by 30-50%. In his words, the premature introduction of Euro norm is not in our interest and it is right for them to act in parallel, another 5-10 years with the Bulgarian norms.

His colleagues from the Construction University, however, have a different opinion.

Prof. Jordan Milev from Department of "Massive constructions" believes that the new standards will make more expensive by around 10% only the main structure of the building, which would raise the total price of the object with a few percent. According to him, some of the specialists in Bulgaria need extra preparation, but we must follow the requirements of the EU.

He said "The postponement of the Euro codes in construction isolates us from the EU".

"Almost all EU countries who introduced the European standards, or their construction standards are harmonized with them. The problem is that our standards for construction are very outdated.

According to the expert, Bulgaria is a small country and cannot afford to develop their own building standards. Other EU countries such as France, Germany, Italy and Romania are already harmonized their norms with the European standards. "We still haven't done it," says Milev. In his words, the Euro norms will provide higher resistance of the buildings.

"Load-bearing reinforced concrete structure, built in Euro norms, would be more expensive with up to 30 percent, but the price of the whole building would have jumped by about 5 percent," says the Professor of the Academy of sciences.