Case Studies on Construction Defects in Civil Construction: Evidence and Possible Solutions

This paper deals with the occurrence of construction defects, particularly those due to water penetration in buildings. The considered defects mainly originated from improper management of validation checks during the design or execution phases. From a technical point of view, validation checks are valuable tools for public administrations to mitigate litigation and construction defects during or after building and infrastructure work. A large proportion of defects are due to rigid design procedures, which require technical specialists to address specific issues (architectural, structural, material, etc.), and the main problems are often caused by a lack of coordination. Another frequent cause of defects is the sequence of planning stages (preliminary, final, and executive in Italian regulation), and different technicians may manage the same design, sometimes with different tender procedures. In other cases, the contradictory requirements imposed by various regulatory authorities (fire corps, agency for the management of artistic heritage, etc.) create conflicts and lead to wrong technical decisions through attempts to fulfill contradictory requests. An independent technical board, such as a team of validators, is therefore able to help the regulatory authority, reducing the risks of errors during the design process and avoiding litigation during construction phases. Several approaches to validation are presented, from “best practice” to “prescriptive validation”. An analysis of four examples of litigation due to relevant defects is shown and discussed, where a lack of coordination and the absence of real validation checks are the main causes of litigation. A discussion of these examples provides indications and suggestions for strategies to mitigate the occurrence of construction defects.