Kazakhstan's Construction Code No. 253-VIII entered into force on 1 July 2026, replacing a 25-year-old framework

Kazakhstan's national government enacted a new Construction Code on 1 July 2026, binding every participant in the country's architecture, urban planning, and construction sector under a single codified instrument for the first time. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the code - No. 253-VIII ZRK - on 9 January 2026, and it superseded the Law on Architectural, Urban Planning and Construction Activities of 16 July 2001 (No. 242) that had governed the sector for a quarter of a century.

What the code replaces and why

The 2001 law (No. 242) had regulated Kazakhstan's construction sector for 25 years and was widely criticised for producing a fragmented body of by-laws that often conflicted with one another. Construction expert Dilyara Seitnurova noted that the previous market was regulated by "disparate laws and by-laws, which often led to inconsistency of norms." The new code establishes a unified regulatory framework covering every phase of a project's lifecycle - from initial design and permitting through construction, commissioning, and post-completion operation.

The path to adoption was contested. The initial draft drew criticism from lawmakers and the construction industry over provisions that businesses argued would increase administrative barriers rather than improve quality. Following that pushback, the Ministry of Industry and Construction revised the draft. Nazira Usenova, deputy chair of the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs, said the industry's priority was "not the number of control mechanisms, but their effectiveness and predictability." Compromise positions were reached on the most sensitive provisions before the code was finalised.

Key substantive changes

The code introduces several changes that directly affect contractors, designers, and project owners:

• Joint and several liability. The code expands joint and several liability among project participants - architects, engineers, and contractors - and for complex facilities makes turnkey delivery with a single contractor bearing full responsibility mandatory.
• Warranty periods. A five-year warranty period for completed construction projects and a ten-year warranty for structural elements - including the load-bearing frame, facade, and roof - were retained in the adopted text, following industry negotiation. Extended post-commissioning inspections of technical condition are also introduced.
• Licensing and certification. Mandatory certification of experts and a unified digital register of builders are introduced. Architectural and construction control authorities receive expanded powers, including the ability to act on unscheduled inspections.
• Seismic zone provisions. The code strengthens oversight requirements specifically for construction in seismic zones, a material concern given Kazakhstan's geography.
• Self-regulation. The existing model of non-state (private) construction expertise - based on competition and professional responsibility - is preserved, with key accreditation and examination mechanisms kept intact.

The BIM mandate and digital framework

The most structurally novel element of the code is its phased mandate for Building Information Modelling (BIM). From 1 August 2026, BIM became mandatory for major public and infrastructure projects, including schools with a capacity of 600 students or more, airports, bridges longer than 100 metres, tunnels, and metro systems.

From 2028, the BIM requirement will expand to kindergartens with 95 places or more, boarding schools, university campuses, and residential and public buildings of three to six storeys. Full extension to most construction activities is targeted by 2030.

The Ministry of Industry and Construction approved the relevant project list. The digitalization plan for 2026-2027, adopted on the same day as the code's signing, also provides for the creation of digital facility passports and the conversion of building norms and standards into machine-readable formats. The government has framed 2026 as the Year of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence, and the construction sector's digital overhaul sits within that broader agenda.

BIM's anti-corruption rationale is explicit in official commentary: digital models enable automatic calculation of material quantities, making it harder to overstate costs or divert materials such as reinforcement and concrete, since discrepancies between the model and the physical structure are flagged during audits.

Who it binds and what to watch

The code binds all participants in Kazakhstan's construction sector at the national level - designers, contractors, technical owners, expert organisations, and state control bodies. The Atameken chamber has committed to monitoring implementation, reviewing subordinate regulations as they are issued, and proposing amendments where enforcement practice diverges from legislative intent.

The subordinate regulations - ministerial decrees and technical norms issued under the code - will determine how several provisions operate in practice. The code's text states that the authority having jurisdiction determines compliance in ambiguous cases; the chamber and sector experts have flagged that some provisions will require close scrutiny as enforcement develops. The BIM rollout schedule, in particular, depends on the Ministry of Industry's ongoing updates to the approved project list.^[1]