AI Cuts Building Permit Review Times by 50%

A I • Apr 26,2024

A European city administration struggled with delays and errors in their manual building permit review process. To improve efficiency, they implemented an AI solution that automates document checks, categorizes submissions, and extracts critical information. This led to a 50% reduction in processing time and improved accuracy for both applicants and city staff.

Client:

The Vienna City Administration oversees a wide range of municipal services, ensuring the smooth operation of the Austrian capital. Within the City Administration, various departments manage specific areas. Vienna’s development dramatically depends on the efficient functioning of MA 37, the Municipal Department 37, which is responsible for granting building project approvals. Much of MA 37’s work involves meticulously reviewing construction inquiries for accuracy and proper justification.

Problem Statement:

The Vienna City Administration required an AI-based solution for their building permit process due to several challenges:

Time-consuming manual review: The traditional process involved city staff manually checking every submission for completeness and accuracy, leading to backlogs.

Missing or incorrect documents: Incomplete applications with missing documents or errors caused delays and frustration for applicants and city employees.

Inefficient processing: The manual verification process for building permits couldn’t keep up with the number of applications it received. They couldn’t review everything quickly or effectively.

Results:

Cut processing time by 50%: Compared to the traditional procedure, digital permits streamline the process, potentially cutting the time it takes to obtain approval in half.
Automated checks: AI-powered systems can automatically handle some document verification and basic checks, freeing up staff for more complex tasks.
Real-time status updates: Applicants can track their application’s progress anytime, eliminating unnecessary inquiries and delays.
Early feedback: The system might provide preliminary input on building models during the initial stages, allowing for corrections and adjustments before a formal review and potentially avoiding delays caused by significant revisions later on.

AI Solution

The City of Vienna faced a slow and error-prone manual review process for building permits. To address this, it partnered with Cloudflight to implement an AI-powered solution called BRISE (Building Regulations Information for Submission Envolvement).

Document Preprocessing: BRISE uses AI to automatically pre-process uploaded documents, such as improving font contrast for better readability.

Document Classification: AI helps BRISE categorize documents into predefined types, ensuring all necessary files are included in the application.

Named Entity Recognition (NER): The system employs NER to identify key details like addresses and company names within the documents.

Information Extraction: AI extracts essential information from the documents and suggests them for auto-completion in the application form, reducing errors and saving time for applicants and city staff.

Automatic Signature Detection: AI can automatically identify the presence or absence of signatures on documents, flagging incomplete applications.

Additionally, BRISE leverages a combination of machine learning and intelligent semantic search. This allows the system to:

Quickly analyze legal sources relevant to building permits, providing a faster basis for decision-making by city staff.
Automatically classify provisions from the Vienna Land Use and Development Plan, ensuring adherence to regulations during the permitting process.

By employing AI in these ways, BRISE streamlines the building permit process, reduces manual workload for city staff, improves overall efficiency, and ensures a more informed decision-making process.

Interesting Fact:

The BRISE project received a Good Practice Certificate in the “Innovation in Public Administration” category by the European Institute of Public Administration (EIPA) in March 2024.