Uckermark and Schwedt: Virtual building authority starts - building applications digitally!

Uckermark and Schwedt: Virtual building authority starts - building applications digitally!

On Monday, June 23, 2025, the starting signal for the virtual building authority in the district of Uckermark and the city of Schwedt was given. This innovative solution is intended to advance the digitization of the building application procedures in Brandenburg and should be fully implemented by 2026. Already in the first few days it turns out that the digital offer is well received by the applicants. "The goal is to give citizens: inside and companies a quick access to administrative services," emphasizes Detlef Tabbert, the Minister for Infrastructure and Land Planning. His commitment applies to the acceleration of planning and approval procedures in Germany, according to the initiative of the Federal Minister of Building.

A decisive advantage of the virtual building authority lies in the networking of everyone involved: builders, planners, authorities and municipalities can now work together more easily and more transparently. With this digital platform, the processing times can be significantly reduced, which not only reduces the bureaucracy, but also benefits environmental protection - less paper consumption is guaranteed.

digital process and simple application

The app offers a circular-die-upability for applications, which is a great advantage, especially in times of flexible working hours. In addition to supporting the digital participation of the public authorities, applicants can follow their process online. According to Cityreport.pnr24-online.de, the pilot landing circuits can now be submitted online. Another impulse is given by the possibility of preparing up to 100 files with a maximum size of 80 MB for submission. Only PDF files may be used, which ensures a smooth process. The maximum total amount of data has an upper limit of 200 MB, and file names must be selected sensibly in order to guarantee smooth processing.

The introduction of the virtual building authority is carried out by 20 building inspection authorities, including 14 counties and 6 cities. Four building inspectorate is now already in real operation: Oberspreewald-Lausitz, Märkisch-Oderland, Prignitz and Teltow-Fläming. Six other authorities have already accepted digital building applications, while the rest are still working in the test system. The virtual building authority should be available nationwide by the end of 2025.

pioneering work by other federal states

Similar initiatives for digitization of building applications are also on the rise in other federal states. In the district of Altötting, for example, building applications have been submitted digitally for a month. This model brings a practical solution to reduce bureaucratic hurdles. The Bavarian pilot project, which includes several district offices, shows that over 1,500 digital applications have already been successfully submitted. Here, too, digitization is seen as a way to shorten the processing times and ensure that applications can be submitted with complete documents.

The digital building applications are submitted using intelligent electronic forms and no longer have to be submitted in paper form. The possibility of electronically submitting building applications opens up new perspectives for architects and civil engineers in order to make the procedures more efficient. As part of the [online access law] (https://kommunal.de/digitalbauerbau-application-online access law), the digital application is systematically promoted, which paves the way for a modern building management.

The developments in Brandenburg not only show that digital transformation in building management is progressing, but also that many municipalities are working seriously on continuous digitization. While the prerequisites are created, it is now necessary to wait and see how quickly the complete rollout for the virtual building authority is progressing across Brandenburg and what other paths open up through this digital network.