Amendment to the Construction Law – easier reconstruction of commercial buildings

The amendment to the Construction Law, which comes into force on September 19, 2020, changes the catalog of investments for which obtaining a building permit or notification of construction or construction works will or will not be required. One of the changes is the exemption from the requirement to obtain a building permit or notification of the reconstruction of a building for which a building permit is required. This will enable, for example, the reconstruction of large-scale commercial facilities or office buildings without the formalities related to obtaining a building permit, which was usually the practice in this type of facilities, e.g. due to the need to obtain project approvals in terms of fire protection.

In the new legal status, effective from September 19, 2020, the reconstruction of the premises in large commercial facilities, e.g. adaptation of the premises for the restaurant, will not require a building permit.

This will certainly shorten the period of adaptation works and will allow many tenants to open the leased space faster.

On the other hand, it will still be necessary to report a change of use in a situation where the planned reconstruction of a building or part of it will entail a fundamental change in the conditions of fire safety, flood safety, work, health, hygiene and sanitary conditions, environmental protection or a change in the size or system of loads.

In a situation where a change of use is related to changes of the conditions of fire safety, the notification of such a change should be accompanied by an expert’s opinion on fire safety issues.

Moreover, it will still be required to obtain a building permit for each reconstruction of a building object entered in the register of monuments. However, in the case of objects located in the area entered in the register of monuments, each reconstruction will require prior notification of construction works. The building permit application and the application must be accompanied by a permit issued by the competent provincial inspector of monuments pursuant to the provisions on the protection and care of monuments. This means that the performance of adaptation works in objects under conservation protection will still require a permit from the conservator and a building permit, or a notification of works.

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