Anyone planning new construction, major renovations to existing buildings, or a change of use must submit a building application. For the past few years, the digital building permit process has allowed this to be completed entirely online. For the third time, the Department Civil Engineering at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (THM) and TransMIT GmbH invited stakeholders from the construction industry, IT and software services, and government agencies to a congress to exchange experiences with this digital service.
Around 300 people from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and India registered for the event. Thanks to the hybrid format, participants could attend the congress either in person or online. Municipalities already using digital building permits provided insights. They particularly emphasized that digitization has made building permit processes faster and saved costs by eliminating postage, shipping, and printing. Applicants benefit from more transparent and comprehensible decision-making.
“Digital building permits are not an end in themselves – they are a necessity. We face the challenge of introducing technologies while bringing people along and rethinking processes. The examples from Frankfurt and Karlsruhe show that the effort is worthwhile. Ultimately, this leads to faster permits, more satisfied citizens, and an administration that actively addresses the shortage of skilled workers,” said Prof. Dr.-Ing. Joaquín Díaz, Dean of the Department of Civil Engineering.
Like many companies, public authorities are facing a period of upheaval, with roughly a third of their administrative staff retiring in the coming years. In light of this, processes need to become more efficient, faster, and more user-friendly. The panel discussion clearly demonstrated that a cultural shift is therefore necessary.
The participants, who already have experience with digital building permits in public authorities, also raised challenges. For example, the interfaces between citizens, authorities, and planning offices need improvement, and geodata should be included as a central basis for spatial decisions. Furthermore, the authorities expressed a desire for the use of artificial intelligence to automatically identify and correct erroneous or incomplete applications at an early stage. Currently, a large proportion of building applications submitted by architectural firms contain errors, which delays the entire process. As the next logical step, Building Information Modeling (BIM) should be incorporated—that is, 3D models and data integration—to enable more precise planning and faster approvals.
“The congress has once again proven that change is possible – if we shape it together,” said Dean Prof. Dr.-Ing. Díaz. Giessen 's Mayor Frank Tilo Becher opened the event on the first day, and on the second day, Ulrich Staiger, Head of the Building Law Department at the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas, welcomed the guests. They all agreed that digital building permits are not a future scenario, but rather a reality. Cooperation between authorities, businesses, and academia remains crucial. The next congress is therefore planned for May 4th and 5th, 2027, in Giessen .