Digital building permits confirm their success

The AC-Démat digital platform - which now boasts over 12,500 registered users - has enjoyed growing success since its introduction in 2018 and the most recent developments in this 100% digital e-start.

Key figures:

• Since 2018, 18,500 digital applications for building permits, etc. have been submitted and processed, along with 10,700 declared construction site openings.
• In March 2022, 561 APA/MPA files were submitted, a record number since the platform opened, 93% of which were submitted digitally (the remaining 7% being digitized in-house after submission at the OAC counter).
• Similarly, 193 DD/M/DP files were submitted in March 2022, of which 75% were submitted digitally.
• Also in March 2022, 493 building sites had been opened, also a record number since e-démarche, with over 81% of applications submitted digitally.
• 82 public inquiries were also processed digitally.

A tour de force for public and professional players

Beyond the figures, the digitization of building permits has had a major impact on the working methods of professionals, the building permits office and the hundred or so pre-advisors from various cantonal, federal, parapublic and municipal departments who decide on these applications.

With the number of files submitted rising by more than 50% each year, this steady progression is proof of the significant productivity gains brought about by digitization.

This represents a tour de force on the part of the professionals and the public administration, who have succeeded in making a major change to their work processes in parallel with the increase in the number of cases handled.

Positive impact on the environment

Even if digital technology has its own environmental impact, the digitization of building permits reduces the overall impact of this public service by eliminating the need to print out bulky paper files, often submitted in several copies, and to transport them by van to the communes and departments concerned.

As an indication, all these digitized files represent more than 860,000 documents processed and archived since 2018, equivalent to several million sheets of paper.

Next developments for 2022

By the end of this year, the platform will be able to process all building permit applications, with the forthcoming opening of the Requests for Information (RFI) filing system, as well as the filing of files relating to the operation of gravel pits or waste treatment facilities, for which an operating permit is also required from the Geology, Soil and Waste Department (GESDEC). The SAD-Consult platform will also be modernized.

At the same time, as announced at the start of the year, in the last quarter of 2022 the platform will accept applications for building permits in the form of three-dimensional BIM (Building Information Modeling) digital mock-ups. Pilot applications will soon be submitted to validate this process, in close collaboration with professional construction organizations.

Source : ge.ch