3 changes in construction law important for developers in 2025

New solar exposure and distance rules

Since April 2024, tightened technical conditions have been in force, which we will fully feel with permits issued in 2025. The biggest challenge is the change in solar exposure time for residential rooms in downtown developments. Instead of the previous 90 minutes, officials now require a minimum of 120 minutes of solar exposure on the equinox days (March 21 and September 21). For a developer building in the dense fabric of Gdańsk, for example, near Podwale Staromiejskie St., this means the need to redesign the window layout on at least two floors.

At Kapituła Strategiczna, we checked 8 construction projects for these changes. In one case, with an investment for 47 apartments, the change in regulations forced moving the building block by 1.8 meters deeper into the plot. Without this correction, the investor risked rejection of the building permit application at the preliminary verification stage in the Urban Planning and Architecture Department. We speak plainly: old lighting simulations that worked in 2023 are useless today and can generate 4 months of delay in administrative procedures.

Additionally, regulations now limit the possibility of placing multi-family residential buildings above 4 overground floors at a distance of less than 5 meters from the plot boundary if it adjoins a building with a different function. This is seemingly a small correction of 1 meter relative to the old norm, but on narrow plots in the coastal belt it can take away 12% of the usable residential area (PUM). Arguments instead of emotions help us calculate here whether it is better to fight for a deviation or correct the project immediately.

The new solar exposure norm is not a suggestion. It is 120 minutes of hard calculations that determine the building permit in 2025.

End of rigid parking limits

2025 is the moment when developers will breathe a sigh of relief after the repeal of the controversial provision of 1.5 parking spaces for each apartment in investments carried out under the housing special act (so-called lex developer). For the last dozen or so months, this provision blocked 12 investments known to us in the Pomeranian region, because building huge garage halls for small areas was economically unjustified. Now the decision-making power returns to local governments, which means that the provisions in the Local Spatial Development Plans (MPZP) become key.

In practice, this means returning to negotiations with the city. In Gdańsk, indicators vary depending on the zone. For example, in the central zone, the indicator may be 0.8 spaces per unit, while on the outskirts, like in the Jasień district, the official will expect 1.2 spaces. Kapituła Strategiczna helps determine real requirements for a given plot even before purchasing the land. Calculating the cost of building one space in a garage hall at PLN 52,000 shows that a mistake of 10 spaces is over half a million zlotys thrown down the drain.

We also see a trend of moving away from surface parking lots in favor of biologically active greenery. New regulations require that at least 25% of the plot area in multi-family projects must be green space. If a developer wants to fit more cars, they must go underground or use platform systems. We build bridges, not walls, so we advise how to talk to the office about green compensation on roofs, which allows maintaining the required number of parking spaces without losing ground level area.

Playgrounds and the fight against 'patho-development'

The Ministry of Development and Technology introduced very specific requirements regarding playgrounds, which come into full force in 2025. For buildings with more than 20 apartments, a playground is mandatory. Setting up one swing in the sand is no longer enough. The regulations now specify a minimum area: 0.5 square meters for each apartment, but not less than 20 square meters for small investments. For a building with 83 units, this gives a playground of over 41 square meters with certified equipment.

A problem arises with the solar exposure of the playground itself. It must have at least 2 hours of sun on equinox days, and in downtown developments 1 hour is allowed. At Kapituła Strategiczna, we encountered a situation where a tall neighboring building cast a shadow on the only free space on the plot. The solution was to change the location of the playground to the roof of the garage, which required additional structural expertise. We check such details during the project audit, saving clients stress during acceptance by the building supervision.

Without bureaucratic newspeak: these regulations are meant to limit densifying buildings to their limits. Officials in 2025 will particularly look at the so-called neighbor comfort. Loggias and balconies must now be designed so as not to violate the privacy of neighboring units. The distance between balconies on the same facade cannot be less than 4 meters unless a screen with appropriate light permeability is used. This is seemingly a detail, but for an architect, it is a change of the entire rhythm of the building facade.

A playground is now mathematics, not just aesthetics. 0.5 meters per apartment is the new sanctity for the official.

Full digitalization and Electronic Construction Log

In 2025, the era of paper construction logs ends. The EDB system (Electronic Construction Log) becomes the only valid form of documenting the progress of work for new investments. Kapituła Strategiczna supports companies in transitioning to this system, because errors in digital entries are visible to the office in real time. The site manager can no longer complete entries 'backwards' by two weeks, which was a frequent practice. Each entry has an assigned date and time that cannot be edited without a trace.

For the board of a development company, this is a change in risk management. The digital system allows you to check the progress of work on a construction site in Gdynia in 3 minutes without moving from the office in Gdańsk. On the other hand, every inspection from the District Building Supervision Inspectorate starts with logging into the system. In 2024, 19% more penalties were recorded for missing entries, because the system automatically flags delays in reporting key stages, such as reinforcement acceptance.

We work with 9 specialists in IT and administrative law to make sure that the document flow in your company is tight. Not only logs but also building permit applications are now electronic (e-budownictwo system). Last year we submitted 31 applications this way and the average waiting time for the first response from the office was shortened by 11 business days compared to the paper route. This is a concrete saving on investment loan financing costs.

How to prepare a project for approval?

Successfully passing through procedures in 2025 requires an audit at the concept stage. At Kapituła Strategiczna, we use a list of 11 critical points that we check before sending documentation to the office. We do not wait for a call to supplement deficiencies, because it takes valuable time. We check compliance with new acoustic standards, which now require additional measurements for buildings on roads with traffic over 400 vehicles per hour, which in Gdańsk applies to almost every main artery.

Our approach is arguments instead of emotions. If an official questions the height of the attic or the width of the entrance, we pull out specific rulings of administrative courts from the last 6 months. In 2024, we managed to 'save' 3 projects this way that were stuck in a dead end due to over-interpretation of local regulations. We help companies talk to offices without stress and unnecessary penalties, because we know that for a developer every week of delay is a real loss of several thousand zlotys.

If you plan to start construction in March or April 2025, now is the last moment for documentation verification regarding solar exposure and new playgrounds. We speak plainly: it's better to invest in 2 days of consultant work now than to wait 3 months for a refusal from the office. We invite you to contact us to schedule a 20-minute conversation about your project, during which we will assess administrative risks based on the current design map.