Certificate Issuing from the Council of Architecture

The new law 4495/2017 has been published in the Government Gazette, under the title “Control and protection of structured environment and other provisions”. The founding of Architecture Councils is mentioned in article 7.
Approval by the Councils of Architecture is necessary for several cases of town that will be mentioned below and it is mandatory for the folders addressed to the City Planning Commission. Certification for all the new licenses referred under article 7, is valid from the moment the Ν. 4495/2017 is published. The housing of the Councils’ committees will be realized in buildings of the Decentralized Administration of each area. Committees are to be populated by 4 persons each and will convene twice a month, while decisions are to be made by majority rule.
Mandatory certification approval by the councils may bring delays to your investment and in certain cases it’s possible to bring obstacles to its realization. Managemind considers it important to begin any licensing procedures from the councils and to deem the timeframe required for the issuing as important.
Managemind is at your disposal to assist you, in order to realize the certificate issuing in the shortest time possible.
Below, we have listed the cases where the councils’ approval is required, as mentioned in the 4495/2017 law.
“Architecture Councils – Formation & remits”
1) By the decision of the General Secretary of Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, which is published within six (6) months since the activation of the present decree, Architecture Councils are to be formed in every region, which will be responsible for approving architectural studies, in the following cases:
a) For every construction work (construction, repair, addition, demolition) in buildings or playing fields located at traditional parts of cities, in traditional housings, historical and archaeological sites, areas of natural beauty, at a distance less than 100 meters from the beach line, facing basic roads (Basic, Secondary, Tertiary National Road Network and Primary Rural Road Network) and building requiring the approval of the Environmental Consequences Study.
Approval is not required for construction work, technical or other work inside buildings which do not modify their appearance, as well as for other cases of buildings and works from any Greek or International architectural contest.
b) For any construction work in buildings or spaces that have been officially deemed preservable by the appropriate Minister, as well as buildings and playing courts bordering or opposite them
c) For any other construction, as long the case has been sent to the councils by the Decentralized Administration
d) For every study concerning the development of public or unstructured spaces, except from the cases concerning local or international contests.
e) For architectural studies differentiating by the morphologic elements and typology imposed by special decrees passed per area, protected or not.
f) For demolition licenses concerning buildings erected before 1955.
g) For the approval of the division of a unified building of case a, paragraph 1, article 6 of the 24/ 31.5.1985 (Δ΄ 270) law and in case the division is demanded by existing decrees.
h) For the approval of constructions for non-complete site cases of article 41, of the 1337/1983 law.
i) For any case predicted by the decrees of the 4067/2012 (Α΄ 79) law, or the opinion of the Council.
j) For the legalization of construction work or illegal constructions, according paragraph 6 of article 4 of the 4067/2012 law, concerning the above cases.
2) On islands under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Island Policy, the Councils of Architecture, further than the above are responsible for the approval of architectural studies for every construction work which demands the issuing of a construction license, according to paragraph 1 of article 4, of the 4067/2012 law, on buildings out of the residential limits, or residential areas of less than 2000 inhabitants.
3) a) In case of danger constructions about to collapse in buildings or playing courts in historical centers of cities and settlements, areas of natural beauty as well as buildings and spaces deemed preservable, according to paragraph 1β, the Council forms decides within 15 days from the submission of a demolition request.
b) Exceptionally, in case of emergency the demolition request procedure can be defined especially, by the decision of the Minister of Energy and Environment.
4) By the decision of the Minister of Energy and Environment a guidelines issue towards the members of the Architecture Council will be written to define any other matter relevant to the decision issuing by those Councils”.