Ministry of Environment and Energy document on the demolition of buildings constructed before 1955 and opinions of Architectural Councils

HELLENIC REPUBLIC
MINISTRY OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY
GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF URBAN PLANNING
DIRECTION OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING
REGULATIONS AND PERMITS
DEPARTMENT OF STORED BUILDINGS (B’)

ATHENS, 9/5/2016

Ref. No.: 23643

TO: Directorates of Environment and Spatial Planning (P.E.CH.SCH.) of the Decentralized Administrations of the Nation
(for the information of the Services of Construction and the Councils of Architecture of the spatial their jurisdiction)

COMMON.:

TAX. ADDRESS: Amalia 17

POSTAL CODE: 115 23

INFORMATION: X. Gounali, D. Agoropoulou

TELEPHONE: 213.1515 222, 223

FAX: 210. 6437266

SUBJECT: Regarding the implementation of paragraph 8 of Article 6 of Law 4067/2012 on the demolition of buildings constructed before 1955 and the opinions of Architectural Councils.

In response to requests forwarded to our Service concerning the demolition of buildings constructed before 1955 and related opinions of the Architectural Councils, within the scope of our responsibilities, we would like to inform you of the following:

The procedure for examining requests for building demolition files is governed by the following provisions:
a) paragraph 1f of Article 21 of Law 4030/2011 on the powers of the Architectural Councils, according to which the Architectural Councils give their opinion “on all cases of demolition permits for buildings constructed before 1955.”
b) of paragraph 8 of Article 6 of Law 4067/2012, according to which “requests for demolition, repair, or addition to a structure erected before 1955” must be referred to the relevant Architectural Council. This referral is mandatory and “for structures built after 1955 that are located in a (traditional) protected settlement, (traditional) protected part of a city, historic site, archaeological site, and area of outstanding natural beauty. If the Council considers that the repair does not affect the construction or that there is no reason to initiate the procedure for its designation as a listed building, the procedure for issuing the Building Permit is forwarded, provided that the other legal requirements are also met. In any other case, with a reasoned report from the Architecture Council, the matter shall be referred to the competent Service of the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, the General Secretariat of Macedonia-Thrace or the General Secretariat of the Aegean and Island Policy. In this case, the permit is granted when the Building Authority is notified that the building is not considered to be of historical interest…..
c) of paragraph 9 of Article 6 of Law 4067/2012, according to which “by decision of the Minister and for the protection of architectural heritage, areas may be designated within or outside (traditional) protected settlements may be designated within which the requested demolition permits must be referred to the relevant Architectural Council, after which they are sent to the service responsible for classification and the procedure of the previous paragraph is followed,” i.e. the last paragraph of paragraph 8. In the context of protecting architectural heritage with the above reasoning, Decision No. 33245/ 12477/18.12.2001 was issued, regulating the procedures for the approval of demolition studies for existing buildings in the areas of the Athens basin (Article 3 of Law 2831/2000-GOK on the demolition of buildings, which has been replaced by Article 6 of Law 4067/2012-NOK).

In the above decision the following are specified :

From the building demolition permits for buildings located in the areas referred to in 4, 5, and 6 of this document, the relevant study files will be forwarded by the urban planning offices to the Directorate of Urban Planning of the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works only in cases where either the EPAE considers that the building has significant features to be classified as preservable or at least one member of the EPAE expresses the opinion that the building should NOT be demolished because it has significant features and should be declared as preservable.
The Urban Planning Directorate of the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works (Department C) carries out regular checks to ensure that all noteworthy buildings are referred to the Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, in accordance with the previous paragraph. It should be noted that, based on the new organizational chart of the Ministry of Environment and Energy (formerly YPEXODE) – PD 100/2014, the above responsibilities of the Urban Planning Directorate – Section C are exercised by the Directorate of Architecture, Building Regulations and Licensing Directorate – Listed Buildings Department (B).
With regard to the relationship between the responsibilities of the former EPAE and those of the Architectural Councils, document no. 7127/ 22-3-2016 of the Independent Department of Legislative Initiative and Project of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the following is stated: “The explanatory memorandum to Law 4030/2011 states with regard to the Architectural Councils that ‘advisory bodies are being established with the aim of encouraging and developing contemporary architectural expression and bioclimatic architecture, replacing the Architectural Control Committees. In document no. 21421/2012, a circular from the General Secretary for Spatial Planning and Urban Environment, it is stated that ‘a) the powers exercised to date by the EPAE (first and second instance) are now exercised by the SA, as specified in the provisions of Article 21 of Law 4030/2011.” In conclusion, with regard to the demolition of buildings constructed before 1955 for which the legal procedure has been followed and provided that the other legal requirements (such as the provisions of Law 3028/2002) are met, it follows from the above that in cases where the relevant Architectural Council, by means of a reasoned decision, unanimously recommends their demolition, there is no reason for further examination or evaluation by our Service.

THE DIRECTOR
DORA GALANI
Architect – Urban Planner