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This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

Public organizations responsible for building permits are increasingly considering the potential applications of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in their workflows, but BIM adoption still remains a complex challenge. This research aims to investigate the factors affecting BIM adoption for building permits through a case study of a public organization currently developing and piloting a BIM-based building permit process. A thematic analysis of semi-structured interview data revealed ten factors that influence BIM adoption for building permits: complexity (in both development and use) of a BIM-based building permit system; relative advantages/disadvantages of BIM for building permits; the existing building permit system; management support for a BIM-based building permit process; organizational culture; BIM awareness; training and learning; available expertise for a BIM-based building permit process; external pressure; and legal context. The findings are important for public authorities’ understanding of both the enablers and challenges of the BIM-based building permit process, and have practical implications for professionals in public authorities in particular, and also the Architecture Engineering Construction/Facilities Management (AEC/FM) industry in general, to guide their steps towards adopting BIM. This research also highlights the potential benefits of BIM adoption for the building permit process.

PurposeBuilding permitting is mostly a manual, labor intensive and time-consuming process. Initiatives for streamlining the process are not always helpful since they often fail to address the core problems within the process. A framework for modeling the permitting process can be useful to identify bottlenecks, core challenges and best practices. Hence, the authors aim to demonstrate and validate a previously suggested workflow for permit process modeling using the permitting process in Israel as a test case.Design/methodology/approachThe authors implement qualitative expert interviews for data acquisition. The collected data are then processed for a qualitative data analysis. The results of the analysis are then validated using a focus group workshop in the field of building permits. In the test case the focus group consisted of Israeli experts.FindingsThe authors present a detailed overview of the as-is building permit process in Israel and the existing challenges. Through this test case, the authors found that the framework is applicable in different countries and that it can provide valuable insights into the core problems within the process. In addition, application of the same framework in different countries can provide comparable results that would allow the authors to identify best practices.Originality/valueThe major contribution of this work is the development and validation of a framework for building permitting process modeling which can be used to identify existing challenges and bottlenecks in the process. Implementing a structured and unified approach provides an opportunity to easily compare processes in different countries to identify best practices.

Without a building permit, a construction project cannot be legally implemented. For this, the building project must undergo a review process by the competent authority. As the number of building projects to be inspected increases, building authorities are faced with ever greater challenges, due to the lack of adequate personnel to manage the inefficient, labor extensive, and lengthy building permit process. In-depth scientific studies of the existing building permit processes are missing so far. This paper introduces a proposed framework that aims to investigate and compare the building permit processes in Germany and in the United States of America (USA). Among other things, the processes are studied for both by-right and non-by-right cases. In doing so, the data are based on a collected empirical study in the form of qualitative expert interviews. The findings of the comparison provide a detailed description and illustration of the current building permit processes, as well as the lessons learned from both countries.

The assessment of the structural safety of buildings, with the related outcomes and other structural information, is typically reported in un-structured sets of documents (tables, drawings, reports, etc.). This happens even if Building Information Modelling (BIM) workflows, platforms, and standards are adopted. Generally, the BIM database provides input data for the structural design, but most of the data produced by structural designers, according to the structural codes, do not fully integrate into the BIM database along with other context-related information. These data are not easily recorded, especially in openBIM standard file formats such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). In the context of digital procedures for permit applications pertaining to seismic structural engineering, the authors propose an openBIM approach for the integration of structural information to support the activities of building authorities’ bodies (BABs). The proposed framework has led to the development of an Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and a Model View Definition (MVD), considering the IFC schema, for the integration and exchange of information within a BIM-based environment. Successively, the authors implemented the proposed IDM/MVD solution in a case study that provided an effective workflow for innovative future delivery of necessary information to building authorities to obtain seismic authorization permits.

Electronic building permit systems, integral to e-government services, aim to enhance the efficiency and user ex­perience of the permit process. Despite their widespread adoption, these systems often fall short, complicating and delaying the process. The presence of a variety of stakeholders in such permit systems complicates interactions between actors; nev­ertheless, no research has examined permit systems from a stakeholder analysis approach. This gap is filled by a formal so­cial network analysis that thoroughly investigates interconnected and multi-level governing systems. This study investigates the electronic building permit system’s successes and failures in the construction industry. A mixed-methods approach was used, including interviews with applicants and employees, process mining analysis of event logs from 50 projects, case study observation, and social network analysis. The findings highlight significant barriers: poor communication and coordination among different agency employees, and a lack of adherence to established timeframes. Additionally, the study reveals that these systems are largely automated versions of their traditional counterparts, lacking substantial redesign or restructuring. Consequently, the researchers recommend a thorough re-evaluation and redesign of the electronic building permit system and propose implementing a one-stop-shop platform to facilitate inter-agency collaboration and streamline both internal and external communications and coordination.

The adoption of building information modelling (BIM) enables data-driven decision-making for many participants in the construction process. Building authorities are stakeholders that have not yet benefited from data integration using BIM. In many cases, parts of their processes have already improved through digitisation initiatives. Now they are on the threshold of a major digital transformation enabled by the integration of BIM into their processes. This study examines a building permit process based entirely on BIM, developed at the Vienna Building Authority in Austria. In a series of workshops with all important stakeholders, the current building permit process was captured in detail and transferred to a data-driven, BIM-based process. The study shows that the complete capture and digitisation of the building approval process not only enables the automation of traditional processes such as code compliance checks and neighbourhood hearings but also supports the introduction of innovative sub-processes such as a pre-check of BIM models and augmented reality-based hearings with neighbours (in a pilot phase). The results suggest that the developed process not only significantly increases the efficiency and transparency of building permit procedures, but also represents a decisive step towards integrating the authority into the BIM process of a building.

Purpose Housing market is predominantly driven by supply and demand, and the measurement of housing supply plays a crucial role in understanding market dynamics. One such measure is the number of building permits (BPs) issued. Despite the importance of BPs as an economic indicator, direct links have yet to be drawn between BP and housing value index (HVI). The purpose of this paper is to establish links between HVI and BP. Design/methodology/approach Trials were conducted using data at the national, state and metropolitan statistical area (MSA) levels. For each trial, the Granger causality test was used first to identify causal relationships between HVI and BP. Subsequently, the vector autoregression model was implemented in an attempt to observe impulse–response relationships and to create a forecast for HVI. Findings Bidirectional causal relationships were observed between HVI and BP at the national, state and MSA levels. The number of issued BPs proves to be an indicator for HVI. Impulse response functions indicate that HVI responds negatively to an increase in BP in the short term of 4–7 months but positively to an increase in BP with a lag of 10–12 months. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first in the body of knowledge that establishes the number of issued BPs as an indicator for housing value. The results drawn using impulse–response function are also novel and had not been observed in previous studies.

Building permits ensure construction meets codes and regulations, but the traditional permitting process is often complex and inefficient. This perspective paper examines the current state and maturity of digitizing and automating building permits. We studied current permit workflows and the recent literature to identify digitization opportunities like online portals, automated code-checking, and data integration. Most jurisdictions are only in the early digital stages, focused on implementing electronic document management and online portals. Some leading cities have piloted more advanced capabilities like automated code compliance checking, but widespread adoption lags. The greatest challenges exist around fragmented IT environments, data integration, organizational inertia, and failing to adapt to technological advancements, such as the example of AI. Achieving higher digital permitting processes requires optimized data sharing, instant feedback loops, and automation-enabled plan reviews. While pockets of innovation exist, mainstream adoption lags behind visionary potential. Realizing the future permitting paradigm demands open data standards, configurable software infrastructure, and organizational commitment to digitize end-to-end. This paper presents regulators and innovators with a perspective framework to evolve permitting towards smarter, faster, and more integrated digital systems and strategies.

PurposeThe purpose of the article is to improve the understanding of the role of institutional factors in real estate development. The authors take into account zoning (existence and type), type of right of disposal and type of buyer and seller of property in a multivariate econometric estimation. Dependent variable of the analysis is the time between acquisition of empty land and the application for a building permit, a period when many important development decisions have to be made. This indicator is closely related to debated phenomena like land hording and speculation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors estimate a Cox proportional hazard model with the time between acquisition and application for a building permit as dependent variable and institutional indicators and a number of control variables as explanatory variables. Study area is the GZM Metropolis in the South of Poland. This region shows enough variability in institutional arrangements to allow for this type of analysis.FindingsThe analysis shows that institutional factors significantly influence the real estate development process. In areas that have not issued a zoning plan, the period until the building permit application is significantly longer. When the state is involved in a transaction (as purchaser or seller), it also takes longer until the building permit application is submitted. Although the instrument is usually intended to speed up development, perpetual usufruct implies a longer period until building permit application. Because of the results the authors get for control variables and for robustness checks, the authors are confident of the results of the analysis.Originality/valueTo the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that deals with the question how institutional factors influence the timing of real estate development. By using data for a region in Poland, the authors also add to knowledge about real estate development in CEE countries.