Building Registry Development Promises Faster Permit Processing

Estonian IT companies Wenture and Finestmedia are implementing the next development phase of the building registry, which will make building and use permit processing significantly faster than before.

According to Kaur Tull, head of Wenture, which focuses on digitalization of the construction and manufacturing sectors, eliminating the bottlenecks of the building registry (EHR) is an exciting challenge for the Finestmedia-Wenture tandem – a quite unique and innovative platform worldwide that has attracted the attention of many international experts and local stakeholders are also watching EHR's development with great interest

„Among other things, in the development phase that has begun, we are focusing on the process of issuing building and use permits, which developers and builders probably all have quite colorful stories to tell about. Our goal is to eliminate the repetitive coordination process that required enormous time resources through these innovations – so far, whenever any government agency made a change proposal, the entire document had to be reloaded and all officials had to review the project in its entirety from start to finish. One can only imagine how much unnecessary work and effort was required for Estonian authorities to process more than 12,000 building permits and 8,600 use permits annually in this manner," said Tull.

According to Kaur Tull, it is gratifying to note that the Estonian public sector has created strong mechanisms for monitoring and regulating the construction industry. „The fact that EHR developments aim to offer users even better opportunities, which help make construction-related activities clearer and more transparent, certainly deserves recognition," says Tull.

According to Wenture's head, one of the most exciting upcoming changes is namely the acceptance of construction projects created based on BIM models. "BIM technology enables automatic project verification, which helps significantly reduce processing time. If uploaded BIM models comply with established requirements, automatic verification should run very quickly," he promises.

However, this does not mean that the upcoming work will be simple, in his view. "The building registry as a whole is a very complex system consisting of many software components. On one hand, it requires us to properly set up the EHR system, but on the other hand, it also requires proper BIM models. Ultimately, the effectiveness of EHR depends on continuous updates, regular maintenance and cooperation between different institutions," adds Kaur Tull.

Finestmedia partner and CEO Jan Urva also highlights the complexity of the new development phase. „The building registry involves a very complex data and labor-intensive ecosystem, the development of which is an exciting endeavor for the entire team. I am confident that thanks to the Finestmedia-Wenture tandem's extensive development competence and skillful combination of construction sector development specifics, we are a worthy partner for the Climate Ministry," says Jan Urva.

According to Finestmedia's head, the decision to submit a bid for the building registry development procurement in cooperation with Wenture was made because it is an experienced construction sector expert.

„We see great potential and long-term future prospects in this cooperation, because Wenture understands the specifics and peculiarities of the construction sector. This partnership will be a good addition to our baggage of more than 20 years of experience in developing large-scale Estonian public and private sector systems. In Estonian public sector services, there are probably very few fields where Finestmedia people have not contributed their part," notes Urva.

According to the cooperation partners' assessment, investing in the development of Estonia's e-state infrastructure is an honor and both companies promise to give their best to make the construction sector more sustainable. Jan Urva adds that hopefully the development of e-construction will bring fresh energy and new breath to the entire sector. "I believe that in a few years, looking back at what we have done, we can proudly state that we have taken a major step towards the digitalization of the construction sector."