Context
The interest in the City of Vienna is reflected in the steadily increasing number of inhabitants: between 2012 and 2021, the city grew by an average of 21 000 new inhabitants per year. Against this background, the question of additional housing is pressing. In 2021, 14 800 new apartments were approved and 14 100 building applications were submitted to the city. These were previously processed in a multistage, paper-based process, resulting in an average procedure duration per application of one year. Municipal Department 37 (MA 37) is responsible for the approval of building projects and a large part of its work in the approval procedures consists of checking enquiries for their correctness and justification. In doing so, the social, architectural and climate-neutral demands on new buildings, as well as the standards for the protection of old buildings of the City of Vienna, must also be taken into account.
Objectives
Based on this problem, the research and development project BRISE was developed, representing a paradigm shift in the field of urban construction management. At the core of the BRISE Vienna research and development project is a new technological approach, which combines the Building Information Modelling (BIM), a 3D model-based tool that provides a digital representation of a facility’s physical and functional aspects; with artificial intelligence and augmented reality to create a comprehensive, end-to-end digital and automated approval process.
The combination of the different high-tech methods aims to reduce project risks, and improve schedules and expenditure, supporting administrative staff and leading to an overall better result with more transparency. Some of the advantages of the digital processing of building permits are that it takes up to 50 per cent less time and that all parties involved can check the current status at any time.
Implementation
After the first internal tests, the new developments of the research and development project were tested in a pilot project based on 13 building projects. For this purpose, experts from MA 37 accompanied the participants selected from among the interested parties throughout the process for the entire duration of the pilot operation from May to December 2022. In addition, a total of 13 planning offices participated in the BRISE Vienna pilot operation with one of their building projects. As a research and development project, BRISE receives around €4.8 million of funding from the EU initiative Urban Innovative Actions, equivalent to a funding rate of 80 per cent.