„We fulfilled our promise and organized an open, fair and transparent competition for Chief Architect, so that anyone who wanted to follow the process and get acquainted with the ideas and experience of the candidates could do so. This was said by the Mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev, after the last phase of the competition - conducting an interview, which took place today with open doors and was broadcast live.
Anyone who watched the broadcast of the two interviews could get a good idea of the candidates in the most important and final part of this competition, also pointed out Mayor Terziev, who is also the chairman of the competition committee.
Two candidates reached the final phase - arch. Georgi Slavov and arch. Bogdana Panayotova. They answered questions before the competition committee at the regional center for contemporary arts “Toplotsentrala“. The interview with the two architects lasted a total of 4 hours, with each of them having 120 minutes to convince the jury and the audience in the hall and online that they were worthy of holding the position of chief architect of the capital. The candidates also answered three questions from citizens.
15 questions were previously approved and announced, which the Sofia Municipality published on the website, created for the competition, in the “Documents“ section. During the interviews, the committee also asked additional questions related to the candidates' vision for the city, their administrative experience, work priorities, their views on the introduction of digital technologies and the electronic building permit, for example.
Mayor Vasil Terziev indicated that among what both candidates said, he saw good ideas. They are "related to processes - how to organize the data in the administrative systems that are used and how to make them open to citizens." Terziev emphasized that for him this is one of the biggest topics. In his words, it is extremely important “how citizens learn what is happening and can be involved in urban planning procedures as early as possible, because the great pain is that there is activity when very few things can change, said the mayor of the capital and added that “In order to escape this perennial problem and flaw of the system, we must educate and create the prerequisites for people to be truly informed in the earliest phase of the urban planning procedure, which is at its very beginning.“
“Even without an acting chief architect, with a temporary one, we have so far managed to take many initiatives related to the publicity of the process, Mayor Terziev also said.
Another very important process, according to Mayor Terziev, is to organize the work in the “Architecture and Urban Planning“ Department. The goal is to have no projects that are pre-arranged, no special treatment for any investor or designer, but to have a system that everyone understands and that works with clear rules. And in a way that finds the right balance between the interests of citizens and all other parties, the Sofia mayor also emphasized.
Vasil Terziev confirmed that the division of functions remains - the mayor is responsible for urban planning, and the chief architect - for the more administrative part, having a vision for streamlining administrative processes, for digitalization and how to reduce the administrative burden. The chief architect has clear obligations under the ZUT.
The competition committee is about to complete the work on evaluating the candidates who reached the final. More information about the assessment criteria at the interview stage and the system for determining the results of the candidates can be found on the website dedicated to the competition, in the “Assessment“ section.
Upcoming important dates in the competition procedure:
April 8 – publication of the final results based on the assessments received by the candidates at the three stages of the competition – test, practical exam and interview
April 15 – deadline for submitting an objection in case of disagreement of a candidate with the assessment of the competition committee
April 16 – 22 – The Mayor of Sofia Municipality issues an act of appointment to the position of Chief Architect to the candidate who is ranked first.