Amendment of concurrent building design and construction regulations in Belarus

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On 4 September 2021, the new Regulations on Concurrent Building Design and Construction (the "Regulations") approved by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus No. 486 dated 27 August 2021 came into force.

The concept of concurrent building design and construction was introduced in Belarus in 2014. In brief, concurrent building design and construction is the process of simultaneously designing and constructing certain stages of a building, provided that the general preliminary architectural design of the building is already in place. Normally, every stage must be completed in sequential order, which extends the overall timeframes. Thus, concurrently designing and constructing a building makes it possible to speed up the overall completion of the project.

Initially, it was only permissible to concurrently design and construct a building with the consent of the President. Since February 2021, the right to approve projects that employ concurrent design and construction was granted to the Government. The adoption of the Regulations finalizes the transfer of the state approval power with respect to concurrent design and construction from the President to the Government.

Now, the Government has the right to determine the cases where concurrent building design and construction can be applied. Thus, for example, it may be applied with respect to infrastructure  such as roads, railways, subway lines, power lines, pipelines, channels or one-of-a-kind facilities like theaters, museums, national sports facilities, as well as objects included in the State List of Historical and Cultural Values of the Republic of Belarus.

Generally, the adoption of the Regulations may to some extent reinvigorate the local construction market, which is particularly useful to help the economy recover after the global pandemic.