Today, the granting of building permits is mainly a manual, document-based process that is unfortunately often characterized by low accuracy, low transparency and low efficiency. This leads to delays and errors in planning, design and construction.

Several EU countries have made attempts to advance the digitization of building permit processes. However, none of these attempts have resulted in the full implementation of digital building permit procedures in municipalities.

The EU-funded CHEK project aims to remove the barriers for municipalities to introduce digital building permit procedures. CHEK starts by developing, linking, and aligning scalable solutions for

• the regulatory and political context
• open standards and interoperability (geospatial data and BIM)
• closing knowledge gaps through education
• renewed municipal processes and the use of technology.

The project will provide an innovative set of tools to support the digitization of building permit issuance and automated compliance verification based on the integration of 3D city and building models.

CHEK is particularly distinguished by the fact that it brings together a multidisciplinary and cross-sector team. It brings together expertise in GIS, BIM, municipal processes and planning, data integration and standardization. Led by Delft University of Technology, the team of 17 European partners represents a multi-sectoral mix of research and education, AEC and software companies, government institutions and international standardization organizations.

The best practices and the developed software, following the logic of OpenAPI, will enable replication in any other European country.

Further information

• CHEK project website with news, videos and milestones
• Project website of the EU
• Interview with Prof. Jantien Stoter (Delft University of Technology)