Building permits in Corfu
A building permit in Corfu is the official approval to build, extend, or substantially alter a building. Johannes Hofmann prepares the civil-engineering studies that belong in that file. The permit itself is issued by the competent authority.
The file
Who signs which part
A complete application is a set of studies, not a single drawing. The architect usually leads the architectural design and the assembly of the file. The surveyor documents boundaries and levels when they are needed. The civil engineer signs the structural study: foundations, load-bearing structure, and the seismic design the regulations require for the project. Other consultants, where the law asks for them, sign their own parts.
New and old
A new house is a different file from a change
A new house is designed forward from the architect’s drawings and the ground. An extension, a change of the load-bearing walls, or a legal alteration of an existing house starts from a record of what is there. Photographs help. Old permits and old drawings help more. If they are missing, the visit has to carry more of the record.
Plots inside a settlement and plots outside the town plan do not follow the same rules. The engineer does not choose the rule. The team confirms which one applies before studies are signed. Work done in the past without a permit should be named in the first conversation, so the correct procedure is used.
After the paper
The study is also for the site
The same drawings tell the builder what to construct. A visit during the works can check that the structure on site still matches the study. Supervision is agreed separately. It is not automatic with the permit drawings.
Related pages: structural design, renovations, and contact.