Municipalities vs NOK – Battle to the end in the CoE for the complete abolition of…

By Eleni Bota

The Municipalities of the country are against the new Building Regulation until the Council of State decides on its complete abolition, as stated in yesterday’s press conference held at the initiative of the Municipality of Kifissia, where architecture professors, lawyers, etc. attended.

All those present at yesterday’s event spoke of “patches” through the new amendment submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also of a fight to the end.

In his speech, the Mayor of Kifissia, V. Xipolytas, emphasized that the victory will be for the CoE to declare the law unconstitutional. “From the moment the Municipality of Kifissia entered the dance of mobilizations of Municipalities against the NOK, then a storm of reactions arose. We won the first battle but not the war”, he said characteristically.

According to him, “the next step is to ensure the legality of the operation of our city’s planning service. We asked for a circular from the ministry to protect the traditional center of Kifissia. I hope that in the next period, having important people with great experience and influence like Mr. Pikramenos, to be able to issue the circular. Also, considering the amendment, we intend to do what the Municipality of Alimos did. That is, if we judge that a license exceeds the regulation, the goal is to let’s give these tools in order to overthrow the law. We have to go step by step to win the battle”, emphasized the Mayor of Kifissia.

The amendment submitted to the Parliament to a bill of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, with regulations for the New Building Regulation (NOK), caused a storm of reactions from mayors for the “bonus” that the Regulation gives to the height of buildings.

Based on the amendment, there will be a progressive restriction on the increase in the height of the buildings, depending on the building factor. Particularly:

– In areas with a building factor of up to 0.8 the additional height will not be more than 2 meters (ie the building gains approximately one floor more than the others in the area).

– In the areas with a coefficient greater than 0.8 and up to 1.6 the additional height cannot be more than 2.5 meters.

– And finally, in the areas with a building factor greater than 1.6, the maximum additional height that a building will be able to gain compared to the others in the same area is an additional 3 meters.