Sofia's Chief Architect, Arch. Bogdana Panayotova, did not permit the construction of the 215-meter building on “Cherni Vrah” Blvd., announced the press center of the Sofia Municipality.
They inform that by order, Arch. Panayotova has refused to coordinate and approve a conceptual investment project and to issue a permit for the construction of a multifunctional building with offices and apartments in the area of “Cherni Vrah” Blvd., “Krastova Vada” in the “Triaditsa“ area.
“Upon taking office, I initiated a full review of the legality of the administrative acts issued to date, including the detailed development plan approved by the Sofia Municipal Council in 2017. In parallel, I ordered a review of the compliance of the project submitted for coordination and approval and the request for issuing a building permit”, the Municipality quotes the chief architect of Sofia.
Arch. Panayotova pointed out that the inspection included an analysis of the compliance of the building project with the provisions of the detailed development plan, with the rules and regulations on territorial development, with the requirements for construction according to the regulatory acts for functionality, transport accessibility, environmental protection and health protection, as well as for the mutual coherence between the individual parts of the project.
The presence of even just one discrepancy in the investment project can be accepted as a basis for refusing to coordinate it, the announcement notes.“The submitted conceptual investment project does not meet the necessary requirements for coordination, approval and issuance of a building permit. We have identified several discrepancies. The transport analysis does not categorically prove the possibility of implementing the planned development and does not correspond to the current throughput capacity of the street network.
In addition, the number of parking spaces provided does not meet the requirements of Art. 43 of the ZUT and the Ordinance on Planning and Design of the Communication and Transport System of Urbanized Territories. Lastly, the presented silhouettes of the building do not correspond to the working development plan (RDP) approved by the SOS, said Arch. Panayotova.
Currently, experts from the Department of "Architecture and Urban Planning" (NAG) are checking the legality of the Decision of the Sofia Municipal Council (SOS) of 2017 to approve the Detailed Development Plan (DDP). The results of this check and the subsequent actions will be announced publicly, the press release states.
On March 21, in response to a journalistic question related to a topic commented on social networks about the construction of a building over 200 meters high in the area of \u200b\u200b“Cherni Vrah“ in the capital, Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev said that a conceptual design for construction has been submitted, but it has not been approved. There is no building permit that has been signed, he said.
According to Terziev, there has been a lot of hysteria, but it is important to note that the development plan for the building in question was passed in 2017 and was voted on in the SOS by the then GERB majority. This project is sitting as a conceptual one in the NAG at the Sofia Municipality, it was submitted in November 2024. and there has been no movement on it since then, Terziev pointed out at the time.
The Chief Architect of Sofia Bogdana Panayotova has sent an invitation to a meeting with the professional organizations - the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria, the Union of Architects in Bulgaria, the Chamber of Engineers in Investment Design and the Bulgarian Association of Architects and Consulting Engineers, the Sofia Municipality announced a few days ago.
This will mark the beginning of professional consultations to discuss contradictory practices in the administration of the “Architecture and Urban Planning” department and interpretations in the application of current legislation related to the design and construction process in the capital.