Economy in focus: This is how the building permit process is being revolutionized!

In mid-December 2024, the Wuppertal city council commissioned the administration to review the administrative processes to support the local economy and identify possible improvements. In this context, the head of the economic department, Dr. Sandra Zeh highlights the important role that companies play in terms of jobs, training places and trade tax payments. The aim is to create an investor-friendly climate characterized by reliable administrative action and faster processing and approval processes.

A specially appointed project group, which includes all relevant departments such as construction and monument protection, urban development, digitalization, the organizational department, fire brigade and economic development, has already started its work. The first focus is on reviewing the building permit process, the improvements to which are already notable. 55 percent of the existing files, i.e. 127,000, have been digitized. In addition, a new microsite with user-friendly information was set up and old files could be viewed via the city's service portal.

Planned measures for process optimization

An important element of this optimization is the introduction of a “preliminary review center”, which enables applications to be assessed quickly. Dr. Sandra Zeh emphasizes that it is necessary, however, to identify further optimization potential in the building permit process. For this purpose, the participation processes with other relevant bodies, such as the fire department, the monument authority, the road and traffic department, the parks department and the environmental department, will be shortened and accelerated.

In addition, binding deadlines for processing steps in the building permit process are to be introduced so that applicants can digitally track the status of processing. Another item on the agenda is improving the quality of incompletely submitted applications, which affect around 55 percent. To this end, a technology-supported appointment pre-booking system will be introduced for citizens to provide competent advice. The IHK and the district craftsmen's association should also be included in discussions in order to take their experiences and suggestions into account. The Economic Committee will be informed about the status of implementation on July 3rd and plans to take a further look at other administrative processes, particularly in the area of ​​“immigration and integration”.

A similar development is also taking place in Frankfurt. From April 1, 2025, the Frankfurt Building Inspectorate will handle the building permit process completely digitally. This decision responds to the demands of builders and architects for a modern and transparent process. City councilor Marcus Gwechenberger emphasizes the need for digital administrative processes for citizens, companies and Frankfurt as a business location. By digitizing the building application process, bureaucracy should be reduced, processing times shortened and transparency increased wirtschaft.hessen.de reported.

The Frankfurt Building Inspectorate has already started submitting digital applications in 2017 and is supported by Ekom21, which is responsible for the development of a central digital construction portal for Hesse. Hesse's Economics Minister Kaweh Mansoori describes the digital building application as a milestone for digitalization in Hesse. The advantages include a reduction in printing and plotting costs, faster processing of applications and efficient archiving.