There are specific needs for enhancing the international competitiveness of the Hungarian economy (and social well-being): the reorganization of building processes concerning a wide range of businesses and citizens became essential mainly in order to reduce the complex and lengthy procedures Ð which are really long by comparison with neighbouring and other European countries.
International surveys suggest that administrative areas related to constructions have huge competitiveness gaps in Hungary. For example, in Hungary for the construction of a warehouse 17 consultations (administrative procedure) are needed, at the same time in Slovakia 10 procedure are sufficient. Therefore it is vital to allow quicker launching of building procedures, shortening the average time of proceedings and reducing costs for customers (costs related to obtaining necessary data and documents). The reorganization of construction procedures Ð indirectly by increasing investment orders related to the reduction of administrative burdens Ð contributes to the recovery of national construction industries thus to the national economic expansion and to increasing competitiveness.
Because of the widening of Governmental Program concerning the Allowance for Family Home Creation g thereby the expected dynamic growth of construction investments, it is a pressing task to develop adequate IT systems and also to implement the related organisations, processes, legislative and development activities. It is therefore necessary to establish an e-building framework to support innovative, service-minded, user-friendly electronic administrative proceedings.
The renewal and development of information technology capacity of the national construction sector started in 2010 by the establishment and introduction of new systems and applications called ÔNational Building RegisterÕ (OƒNY). Recent e-building solutions are based mainly on new, modern technologies.
However, the platform and architectural technological solutions are very heterogeneous, the majority of applications operate in isolation, and, concerning the OƒNY modules, only some partial solutions have been achieved. Applications contain support related to tasks of building public authority, however it is not yet complete.
As a global comment, concerning building sector, IT background of the real electronic administration has not been created yet, current national e-building solutions do not satisfy the requirements of a customer-focused e-administration in the 21st century. Without further development of current e-solutions and new applications, aims for reducing bureaucracy in the building sector can not be achieved.
The e-Construction Log is a mobile application for Android and iOS systems enabling the submission of a simple building notice by preparing a building log book, thereby significantly reducing the lead time of official authorization procedures and constructor documentation processes.
Serving as a completion certificate for the contractual relationship between client and constructor as well as facilitating construction supervision, the keeping of a building log book has long been mandatory for any building construction process requiring a construction permit. The daily tasks of the constructor include the full logging of the building process, reporting tasks to be done and already completed, and making an attendance report of workers and professionals in the project. There are regulations for making such building log books accessible on-site for both clients and construction supervisors.
According to regulation, the entirety of the building log book is to be kept electronically from September 2013. Since 2016, the application developed within the project and the corresponding legislation (Govt. Decree 155/2016. (VI. 13.)) enable the substitution of the construction authorization procedure with the submission of a simple building notice for private-use residential buildings with only one dwelling and less than 300 m2 floor area. The building log book completed as part of the simple building notice model makes it possible for clients to construct a building that conforms both technically and aesthetically to the submitted plans and current local building regulations.
The aim of the project is to upgrade the application user interfaces, to provide on-site access through mobile devices, and to enable construction supervision authorities during on-site monitoring visits to carry out prior verification of the building log books submitted through the simple building notice.
The application and the corresponding legislation have contributed to a marked increase in housing construction endeavours due to the reduction of administrative procedures.
With the omission of the construction authorization procedure, regulations transfer all corresponding responsibilities to the architectural designer and constructor, and place the parties under obligation to take out liability insurance.