Digital building permit procedures are currently being introduced in Germany. A new project aims to speed up the approval procedure for building applications by incorporating digital 3D building models. The scientific partner is the team led by Prof. Dr. Markus König from the Chair of Computer Science in Engineering, which hosted a meeting on the digital building application at the Ruhr University on 30 January 2019.

The coalition agreement of NRW 2017-2022 also provides for digital building permit procedures: "We also want to exploit the opportunities of digitisation in North Rhine-Westphalia's building policy. We will therefore support the local authorities in implementing a uniform and modern system for submitting building applications in digital form, along the lines of, for example, the Berlin building supervisory authority. North Rhine-Westphalia will play a pioneering role in the introduction of Building Information Modeling (BIM). To this end, we will bring together expert knowledge from administration, industry, science and universities."

In a research project (funded within the research initiative "Zukunft Bau"), the use of BIM models is being tested within the framework of administrative procedures under building regulations, in particular the building application procedure. The following problems will be solved: Which test processes can be supported by BIM models within the framework of building application procedures? What exact requirements and specifications must be met by the BIM models? How can the quality and correctness of an application be checked? What could a tool for automated testing look like? Can application review and processing be supported by appropriate visualization of the BIM models? Does the creation of BIM models for building application procedures require more effort on the part of the architect? Can the additional effort be compensated by simplifying the submission and review process?

The consortium is led by planen bauen 4.0 GmbH. The RUB is responsible for the scientific coordination. The cities of Hamburg and Dortmund support the testing with their practical knowledge.