Platform: The draft of the building code has not fulfilled its potential

Prague - The amendment to the building act approved by the Chamber today, according to professional chambers and associations, has not fulfilled its potential, particularly in the integration of decision-making, enforceability of deadlines, or urban planning. However, it will bring partial improvements and accelerate the building permit process. This was stated in a press release by representatives of the Platform for a Healthy Building Act, which brings together chambers and associations.

According to the platform, the amendment does not correspond in many respects to the government's program declaration or the actual needs of the Czech economy. "It is good that the original proposal from the Ministry for Regional Development was changed and resulted in a form that, despite its current imperfections, will bring some positive changes in the form of speeding up the permitting process," agreed the representatives of the Platform for a Healthy Building Act. The platform includes the Economic Chamber, the Union of Industry and Transport, the Union of Entrepreneurs in Construction, the Czech Chamber of Architects, the Association of Developers of the Czech Republic, the CityDeal group, and the Confederation of Employers' and Business Associations.

The amendment approved by the Chamber primarily abolishes the planned establishment of the Supreme Building Authority by the previous government of Andrej Babiš and maintains the current 694 building authorities in municipalities with the possibility to reduce this number based on building activity. The platform criticizes this, stating that abandoning the principle of integrated management under state administration and introducing inconsistent procedural integration means the impossibility of adhering to the one stamp rule that politicians promised.

"Unfortunately, what can always be expected in the fight for stamps in the Czech Republic has happened; no one wants to give them up, and in the end, new ones appear in the attempt to reduce them," said Jiří Nouza, president of the Union of Entrepreneurs in Construction. Marcela Fialková, director of strategy at the development company UDI Group, stated that returning decision-making about the permitting process from the state office to municipalities is not systematically correct. "Because municipalities gain a higher position in the permitting process than the builder. Especially in small municipalities, this can be abused," Fialková warned.

Robert Špalek, chairman of the Czech Chamber of Authorized Engineers and Technicians in Construction (ČKAIT), told CTK that the chamber welcomes the prevention of the collapse of the permit system under the supervision of building authorities. "We are less happy that Prague, Brno, and Ostrava have imposed their own construction-technical regulations, which from the perspective of designers and builders is the complete opposite of clarity, greater predictability, and thus the acceleration of the entire building permit process," said Špalek. He added that digitalization will be crucial for speeding up the permitting process.

Representatives of the Platform stated that the rejection of certain changes, among others in the area of urban planning, brings the expectation of future further amendments to the law. "It is also a mistake to create another stamp in the form of a Unified Environmental Statement (JES)," believe representatives of the unions and chambers.

The platform criticizes the current proposal for not completing the adjustment of the integration of decision-making on building permits. "Instead of looking for ways to implement this similar principle, reasons were sought for why it wouldn't work," described the experiences from the negotiations Tomáš Kadeřábek, director of the Association of Developers.

The platform and ČKAIT agree that the actual impact of the new building act on construction practice will be determined by its implementing regulations, which can be just as significant as the amendment itself.