Urban Renewal Committee | Building renovation ratio under debate

The Urban Renewal Committee has yet to make a final decision over regulations governing the percentage of owners required to agree to move forward with a building renovation, and whether or not to create a graded criteria according to the building’s age.

Talking to the media after the meeting, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, Raimundo do Rosário, said that no specific decision was reached during the Urban Renewal Committee plenary meeting that took place yesterday.

Previously, the committee’s third specialized commission presented a proposal that was debated upon, in which a partial consensus was reached stating that all buildings 30 years old or younger require the agreement of 100 percent of the owners to be renovated or demolished.

Buildings between 30 and 40 years old require the agreement of 90 percent of the owners, and finally, for buildings older than 40 years old, it is required that 85 percent of the owners agree with the decision to renovate or demolish.

Yesterday, Raimundo said that the committee discussed recent works of the three specialized groups of the Urban Renewal Committee.

“We have discussed all three commission’s works, in particular, how their works are going,” said Rosário.

The secretary added that “in the next meeting, there might be a suggestion from the third commission to be discussed in the plenary meeting [regarding the percentage].”

Currently, the law states that major renovation or demolishment of a building requires full agreement by all building owners.

This was reportedly one of the biggest obstacles for the renovation and transformation of industrial buildings into buildings designed for other purposes.

When asked about whether the government is considering issuing temporary licenses to industrial buildings, Raimundo said that the government is still discussing it.

“We have discussed that, and we will find several related departments and committee members to research the problems more proficiently, mainly because recreation of industrial buildings is not an easy issue. We have discussed, but there are some difficulties,” revealed Raimundo.